A leading Republican in Congress on China policy warned on Wednesday that allowing Nvidia to sell its most advanced AI chips to China “would be akin to giving Iran weapons-grade uranium,” as experts cautioned that such a move could erode America’s edge in artificial intelligence.

House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar said in a post on X that he had told the administration, “we cannot sell the latest advanced AI chips to our country’s primary adversary.”

His remarks followed President Donald Trump’s statement earlier in the day suggesting he might allow Nvidia to sell a downgraded version of its Blackwell AI chip to Chinese customers.

Trade experts warned that any such approval could effectively dismantle the U.S. chip export restrictions imposed in 2022, which were designed to prevent China’s military from benefiting from American technology and to slow the country’s progress in AI development.