Raja Krishnamoorthi is a US Representative from Illinois and a Democrat. He is the ranking member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (the "Select Committee on China"), the Democratic counterpart to chair John Moolenaar. In AI policy his activity centers on export controls governing the sale of advanced AI accelerators to the People's Republic of China.
Role on the Select Committee
The Select Committee has operated with a largely bipartisan posture, with most of its major letters and reports issued jointly by Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi. Krishnamoorthi has served as ranking member alongside both Moolenaar and his predecessor Mike Gallagher (Source: wispolitics.com). That bipartisanship is more consistent on export-control enforcement than on the question of how far to relax controls, where Krishnamoorthi has criticized executive-branch decisions that Moolenaar has at times treated more cautiously.
Positions on AI chip export controls
Krishnamoorthi has consistently opposed loosening restrictions on the export of advanced AI chips to China, framing accelerators as a US advantage that export approvals would erode.
Responding on December 9, 2025 to President Trump's announcement of plans to permit Nvidia to sell H200 accelerators to Chinese buyers, Krishnamoorthi said that allowing such exports "would be a profound national security mistake and a gift to our top strategic competitor," that "advanced GPUs remain one of the most important advantages we hold in the race for AI, military modernization, and the jobs of the future," and that "weakening export controls gives Beijing exactly what it needs to close that gap." He argued that instead of approving H200 sales the United States should "strengthen guardrails, build cutting-edge capacity here in the United States, and ensure that American workers and our national security — not the CCP — benefit from the future of AI" (Source: democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov).
In a letter to President Trump on the administration's reported approval of export licenses for advanced AI chips to the PRC in exchange for a share of corporate revenue, Krishnamoorthi warned that "allowing even downgraded versions of cutting-edge AI hardware to flow to the PRC risks accelerating Beijing's capabilities and eroding our technological edge" (Source: democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov).
Legislation
Krishnamoorthi introduced the No Advanced Chips for the CCP Act of 2025 with Representative Ami Bera, which would require congressional approval before the sale of any advanced AI chips to China (Source: legistorm.com).
He has also joined measures originating with other members. On December 4, 2025 he and Moolenaar cosponsored a bill to protect American AI chips by strengthening export-control enforcement (Source: democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov), and he cosponsored Representative Gregory Meeks's RESTRICT Act, which would prohibit the sale of the most advanced US AI chips to the PRC (Source: democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov).
These proposals sit alongside the chair's own approach: Moolenaar's SCALE Act would replace a fixed aggregate cap on Chinese AI compute with a performance-relative export-control test, whereas the Krishnamoorthi–Bera bill would route individual advanced-chip sales through Congress. See Export Controls (AI) and US-China AI Competition: Different Races, Different Metrics.
Relationships
- co-engaged-with: John Moolenaar — Select Committee chair; joint signatory on committee letters and reports
- related: Mike Gallagher — Moolenaar's predecessor as chair
- related: SCALE Act — Rep. John Moolenaar (April 2026) — the chair's alternative export-control design
- depends-on: Export Controls (AI) — the policy instrument at issue
- related: Nvidia & TSMC — AI Compute Infrastructure — the manufacturer whose H200 exports prompted his December 2025 statement
- related: US-China AI Competition: Different Races, Different Metrics — the strategic-competition frame
Sources
- House Select Committee on the CCP (Democrats), "Krishnamoorthi Raises Alarm as Trump Administration Moves to Approve H200 AI Chip Exports to the Chinese Communist Party" (December 9, 2025): democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov
- House Select Committee on the CCP (Democrats), "Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi Warns That Trump's Reckless Policy on AI Chip Exports Sells Out U.S. Security to Beijing": democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov
- House Select Committee on the CCP (Democrats), "Krishnamoorthi, Moolenaar Cosponsor Bill to Protect American AI Chips, Strengthening Export Control Enforcement" (December 4, 2025): democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov
- House Select Committee on the CCP (Democrats), "Krishnamoorthi Cosponsors Meeks RESTRICT Act to Block Sales of Advanced AI Chips": democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov
- Legistorm, "Krishnamoorthi, Bera Introduce Legislation to Require Congressional Approval Before Sale of Any Advanced AI Chips to China": legistorm.com