Openai Once Pushed To Keep Ai Chips From China. Now It's Staying Quiet.

OpenAI has changed its tune on China. Nvidia is a big winner.

OpenAI for much of last year advocated for strict limits on the ability of U.S. chipmakers such as Nvidia to sell advanced processors to China — a policy that would expand access to the crucial hardware as it competes with artificial intelligence labs backed by Beijing. While the conversations left lawmakers with hope it would support their cause on new export controls, Capitol Hill aides and lobbyists with direct knowledge of the company's positioning now say OpenAI has stopped pressing for it.

It's a boon for Nvidia, which is fighting the proposals, and aligns with President Donald Trump, who has forged close ties with the chipmaker and its CEO, Jensen Huang.

OpenAI’s officials “were with us on this and now their position is a bit more fuzzy,” said one of the congressional aides granted anonymity. “Silence is doing Nvidia’s work for it.”

The company’s retreat leaves China hawks in Washington without one of their most prominent industry allies just as Congress braces for a fight during the upcoming lame duck session over adding new chip restrictions to an annual defense bill. And it demonstrates how, more so than chief rival Anthropic, OpenAI appears to be hewing closer to AI policy goals sought by Trump.

“They got the message," said one of the lobbyists with knowledge of OpenAI’s strategy, who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to discuss the internal deliberations. “There is no appetite to challenge the president at this moment.”

An OpenAI spokesperson did not address questions about its meetings with lawmakers or Trump administration officials. A spokesperson for Nvidia declined a request for comment.

“We want the U.S. to continue to have the most powerful AI models, maintain and widen its compute advantage, and lead in setting global standards,” a spokesperson for OpenAI said. “U.S. labs having a substantial lead in advanced chips is key to achieving those goals, and effective export control policies are one part of that broader strategy.”

China hawks on Capitol Hill are pushing chip restrictions as an answer to the American public’s rising fears over the technology’s hacking and other capabilities, arguing the U.S. is a more responsible steward than Beijing. The steady trickle of headlines on AI security breaches and rogue agents has intensified their efforts to attach strict export control measures to the must-pass defense spending bill, which lawmakers are looking to advance after the midterm election.

Fellow AI juggernaut Anthropic backs several of the chip bills that could be attached to the defense measure, and quit a major tech trade association in September over the group’s push to reshape the proposals.

Lawmakers who support the amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act were counting on OpenAI to rally behind the proposals. They’re now concerned that the company’s pullback gives Nvidia an advantage in the behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign to stop the new chip limits, said the staffers granted anonymity.

Nvidia and other chip giants that export to China argue that the U.S. is better off selling freely around the world so that other countries build their AI on American technology.

OpenAI is reliant on Nvidia’s chips to build and deliver its AI models, and the two companies have deepened their business ties in recent months.The chipmaker, the world’s most valuable company, finalized a $30 billion equity investment in OpenAI in February ahead of a likely OpenAI IPO. Under a separate deal announced in August, Nvidia agreed to be the exclusive chip supplier at an Ohio data center that OpenAI will lease, and to guarantee up to $105 billion for the facility’s first phase.

OpenAI had previously pushed for chip export limits similar to what lawmakers are now hoping to pass.

In comments weighing in on the administration’s national AI strategy in March 2025, the company said it supported keeping China under “strict export controls.” It also urged the Trump administration to prohibit China from accessing American AI technology and suggested the federal government add more types of chips and the components used to make them, to its lists of restricted exports.

It’s in contrast with a June 2026 proposal for a federal AI framework, which included a single line calling to “strengthen export controls,” without singling out China. In a letter to the White House in October of last year, OpenAI asked the Trump administration to loosen export licensing restrictions for AI safety testing.

The White House, meanwhile, has made clear that it wants U.S. companies to sell more high-tech chips abroad. Trump has reversed limits on sales of some of Nvidia’s powerful chips to Chinese companies. In exchange, the chipmaker has agreed to give the U.S. government a significant cut of the revenue.

A White House official granted anonymity to discuss the administration’s strategy disputed that the president has eased restrictions on foreign sales of sensitive technology, saying the administration has enforced “the most rigorous export control regime in modern history.”

Like other tech giants, OpenAI has plenty riding on its relationship with the Trump administration as pressure builds in Congress to regulate AI. Democrats, who are poised to take over at least one chamber of Congress next year, are pressing for greater scrutiny of the tech sector. The White House could help kill proposals for tougher AI regulation and oversight.

"That may just be their philosophical approach here,” said a lobbyist for an AI policy organization, adding the company is likely opting “not to get involved because they have so many other things to deal with the administration on.”

Katherine Hapgood and Kelsey Brugger contributed to this report.