Jeffries는 엔비디아 CEO 관련 스캔들이 불거진 가운데, 중국을 대상으로 한 AI 칩 수출 규제를 강화할 것을 촉구하고 있다.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Monday backed an effort to pass new restrictions on China's access to advanced AI chips through an annual defense bill, amid a scandal over Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with an alleged Chinese spy.

Jeffries, who could become Speaker in the next Congress, said he "strongly supports" chip restrictions in the Senate's version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

"We're going to work hard to make sure that those provisions make it into the final version," he told reporters at the Capitol.

The Senate version of the NDAA currently includes three chip export bills: the Artificial Intelligence Oversight of Verified Exports and Restrictions on Weaponizable Advanced Technology to Covered High-Risk Actors Act, the Multilateral Alignment of Technology Controls on Hardware Act, and the Chip Security Act. The bills would allow Congress to block advanced AI chip exports to U.S. foreign adversaries, bar the sale of essential chipmaking tools to countries of concern, and require restricted AI chips to have a "location verification mechanism" to ensure they are not improperly diverted.

The measures have gained new momentum after Huang disclosed over the weekend that he had an affair with a woman whom U.S. officials concluded was a Chinese intelligence asset. Nvidia's chips are central to the AI boom, powering the development of the technology. As some of the most advanced products on the market, they have often been the focus of U.S. export controls.

Nvidia's board of directors said Sunday that it was launching an investigation focused on the U.S. national and economic security implications of the incident.

Jeffries and several other lawmakers met Monday at the Capitol for a classified briefing with senior administration officials, including Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. Although the discussion centered primarily on Iran, the Nvidia matter came up, Jeffries said, adding that there are "real concerns that need to be addressed."

"What is clear, and the Nvidia issue did come up, [is] that we're going to need a full briefing specifically as it relates to the Nvidia issue so we can all get to the bottom of what has happened and what the implications are in terms of America's national security," he said.