On the day Jensen Huang left Nvidia, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI had told US lawmakers it supports a bipartisan push to tighten China’s access to AI chips. The package also targets the tools used to make those chips, and the report was published on 12 November. The timing has fuelled a viral claim on X that Huang’s departure was “a targeted takedown” by OpenAI and Anthropic, which are said to have formed an alliance to back the curbs. The public record does not support that claim.
OpenAI’s support follows months of review, according to reports, and Anthropic has campaigned openly for chip export controls since at least 2025. Versions of the proposals now in Congress were also being debated well before Huang’s private life became a story. What has changed is that Nvidia’s most powerful opponent of those controls is no longer running the company.
Huang resigned on 12 November after a week of reports about his relationships, including with Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive whom US intelligence reportedly suspects of gathering information for China. Nvidia’s board had hired former federal prosecutor Joon Kim to investigate his conduct. Nothing in the reporting so far links his departure to OpenAI, Anthropic or the export debate, and the photo of Sam Altman and Dario Amodei shared with the viral claim could not be verified.
OpenAI’s backing gives Congress a new ally against Nvidia’s lobbying
According to Bloomberg, OpenAI told lawmakers this week that it would support a package of export-related measures that Congress is weighing. Reports describe three parts to the package, each aimed at a different gap in the current rules. One would give Congress more power to review exports of advanced AI chips, and another would track where those chips end up to curb smuggling and diversion. A third would press US allies to restrict exports of chipmaking equipment to China. Lawmakers are considering attaching the measures to the annual defence bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, which must pass each year.
Nvidia has fought similar efforts before, and won. In December 2025, Congress dropped a proposal to curb chip exports from the defence bill, in what Bloomberg described as a lobbying win for Nvidia. Huang had argued for years that selling to China keeps the country dependent on American technology, and the White House has largely sided with him on chip sales. Nvidia and trade groups oppose the new package too, arguing that stricter limits would burden Nvidia and the wider industry, according to reports.
The political ground has shifted since then, largely because of the Megaspeed affair. The chairs of three House committees asked Huang for a closed-door briefing on his reported link to Alice Huang, and Singapore has said it barred her from re-entry after she gave police inaccurate information. Semafor reported on 12 November that Congress is now pushing for tighter export controls following the Nvidia scandal.
Anthropic’s push for chip controls started long before Huang’s fall
Anthropic has been the most outspoken AI developer in favour of export controls. In May 2025, Nvidia publicly accused it of telling “tall tales” about chip smuggling, after Anthropic argued for stricter rules, according to NBC News. In February 2026, chief executive Dario Amodei met senators on Capitol Hill to discuss restrictions on chip sales to China, Axios reported.
Anthropic has also put money behind its position. On 12 February 2026, it announced a $20 million donation to Public First Action, a bipartisan advocacy group, saying it supports “smart export controls on AI chips” alongside AI transparency rules. On 21 July, it gave the group a further $20 million, taking its total to $40 million, and said it backs efforts to tighten export controls on advanced chips and chipmaking equipment. Those contributions are public, and they predate Huang’s troubles by months.
Critics of the AI labs’ position make a different argument. Nvidia and its allies have said export curbs mainly hand market share to Chinese chipmakers such as Huawei, and some observers note that AI developers also benefit commercially if Chinese rivals have less computing power. Supporters of the controls argue that advanced chips are a national security asset and that smuggling, as alleged in the Megaspeed case, shows existing rules are too weak.
Nvidia’s interim leadership inherits the fight in Washington
The policy fight now lands on Nvidia’s interim chief executive, Colette Kress, and its new board chair, Harvey Jones. Huang was the face of Nvidia’s argument in Washington, meeting the president and lawmakers directly, and the company has not said who will now lead that effort. Nvidia’s board said in its announcement that it expects operations and customer commitments to continue without interruption.
For gamers, the outcome matters less directly than it does for data centres, since consumer GeForce cards are not the main target of the proposals. However, Nvidia earns most of its revenue from AI chips, and any new limits on its China business would shape the company’s finances and priorities for years. Nvidia reports its third-quarter results on 17 November, the first under Kress.
