U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, along with fellow members of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, wrote a letter expressing cybersecurity concerns to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
"It is vital we stop China from using U.S. know-how in their aggressive campaign to undermine us," said Ashley Hinson.
The letter addresses recent concerns regarding RISC-V chips, described as a "free and open-source instruction set used for the development of custom processors that allows anyone to design, manufacture and sell processors, without royalties or licensing fees." The PRC shipped 50% of all RISC-V chips globally last year, heightening national security risks due to the PRC's investment in RISC-V chips that could undermine U.S. export controls, according to a press release form the Select Committee on the CCP.
In Oct. of last year, regulations were put in place concerning U.S. chips to prevent the People's Republic of China (PRC) from acquiring them. These rules specifically limited access to "advanced computing chips, supercomputers, and advanced semiconductors." The restrictions were implemented due to concerns that the PRC might exploit such chips for military purposes and technological advancement, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
"The industry of chip design is currently dominated by western firms, a chokepoint that the United States has leveraged with its export controls on advanced computing and semiconductors going to the PRC," wrote the group of lawmakers in the letter, according to a press release from the Select Committee on the CCP. "While the benefits of open-source collaboration on RISC-V promise to be significant, it can only be realized when contributors are working with the sole aim of improving the technology, and not aiding the geopolitical interests of the PRC."
"Right now, China is investing in what is called RISC-V," said Hinson. "It is an open source instruction set for world class technology, innovation, and semiconductor production. It has the explicit goal of undermining U.S. export controls, and overtaking U.S. leadership in chip design."
The lawmakers call on Raimondo to address various questions, such as the current plan to "prevent the PRC from achieving dominance in the RISC-V technology and leveraging that dominance at the expense of U.S. national and economic security." They also request the identification of potential national security risks arising from the expanding use of RISC-V technology, according to a press release from the Select Committee on the CCP.
