OpenAI pulls back from China chip controls, Politico reports
OpenAI has stopped pushing for strict US rules limiting the sale of advanced computer chips to China, according to Politico. For much of last year, the company openly supported these limits. But congressional aides and lobbyists who know its position now say it has stopped speaking up. TNW has not independently confirmed the report.
This change is good news for Nvidia, which opposes the proposed limits. It also brings OpenAI closer to President Donald Trump, who has strong ties to the chipmaker and its chief executive, Jensen Huang.
One congressional aide told Politico that OpenAI's officials "were with us on this and now their position is a bit more fuzzy." The aide added, "Silence is doing Nvidia's work for it."
A fight over the defense bill
The timing is important. Members of Congress who want a tougher policy toward China hope to add new chip restrictions to the yearly defense spending bill. They plan to push for the rules after the midterm election, during a period known as the lame-duck session. Politico reported that they had expected OpenAI to support the measures.
By stepping back, OpenAI has left these lawmakers without one of their strongest supporters in the tech industry. One lobbyist explained the company's thinking in simple terms.
"They got the message," the lobbyist told Politico. "There is no appetite to challenge the president at this moment."
Anthropic has taken the opposite approach. It supports several bills that would limit chip sales and left a major tech trade group in September because the group was pushing to weaken those limits. Compared with its rival, OpenAI now seems more willing to follow Trump's policy goals.
Why OpenAI may be holding back
OpenAI relies on Nvidia's chips, and the two companies have become closer. Nvidia completed a $30bn investment in OpenAI in exchange for a share of the company in February. Under a separate deal in August, Nvidia agreed to be the only chip supplier for an Ohio data centre that OpenAI will lease. Nvidia also agreed to guarantee up to $105bn for the first phase of the project.
OpenAI's public statements have gradually become less direct. In March 2025, it told the US administration that it supported keeping China under "strict export controls". In a policy plan it proposed in June 2026, the company included just one line calling to "strengthen export controls" without naming China. In a letter last October, it asked the White House to loosen some rules on exports so AI systems could be tested for safety.
In a statement, OpenAI did not answer questions about its meetings with lawmakers or government officials.
"We want the US to continue to have the most powerful AI models, maintain and widen its compute advantage, and lead in setting global standards," an OpenAI spokesperson said. "US 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."
Nvidia declined to comment.
The China hawks push back
Lawmakers who take a hard line on China say chip limits are a response to growing public fears about AI security. They argue that the US is more responsible than Beijing when it comes to managing this technology. A steady stream of news about security breaches and AI agents acting in unexpected or harmful ways has strengthened their argument.
Not everyone thinks OpenAI is making the right choice by stepping back. Nathan Calvin, general counsel at the advocacy group Encode, pointed out what he sees as a contradiction between two debates.
It amazes me that so many people hesitate to support AI safety rules because those rules might help China, while some of those same people want to sell much more advanced AI chips to China. It is sad to see OpenAI step back from this issue (to keep NVIDIA happy?).
Nathan Calvin (@_NathanCalvin) October 20, 2026
The White House wants US companies to sell more advanced chips to other countries. Trump has reversed restrictions on some of Nvidia's powerful chips sold to China. In return, Nvidia agreed to give the US government a share of the money it earns from those sales. A White House official disagreed with the claim that the president had loosened the rules and said the administration operates "the most rigorous export control regime in modern history".
The pressure is unlikely to ease. This move comes one day after the US ordered federal agencies to remove DeepSeek products, and a few days after China proposed its own export controls on AI models and chips. Meanwhile, Chinese companies are still ordering billions of dollars' worth of Nvidia chips that current US rules allow them to buy.