The exposure of a U.S.-based operation that smuggled Nvidia’s AI chips to China raises questions about the role of major companies and the authorities charged with enforcing export controls.
A Nvidia chip displayed at Mobile World Congress, Shanghai, June 26, 2024. Credit: CN-STR/AFP via Getty Images
When President Donald Trump announced last December that Washington would let Nvidia sell its advanced H200 chips to China, reversing years of export control policy, the move drew plaudits from the company and denunciation from Democrats and China hardliners.
An excerpt from a Department of Justice press release on 'Operation Gatekeeper', December 8, 2025. Source: DOJ
The controversy overshadowed another announcement. That same day, Department of Justice officials revealed they had
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From Mike Mansfield to Max Baucus and Steve Daines, Montana has been the unlikely source of America’s most influential China-hand senators over the past half-century. But amidst spy balloons, trade wars and mutual paranoia, being a proponent for rational and beneficial relations between the two countries has never been harder.
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