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US Democrat Jim Himes calls chip restrictions the key lever against China in AI race
See how this story connectsJim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said at a Brookings Institution event in Washington on 21 October titled “AI on the ballot: Data centres and the 2026 midterms” that slowing the dispersion of advanced chips into China is “the one real lever” the US has in frontier AI. He said he does not believe the US will keep its lead over Chinese frontier models forever, but that it should for as long as it can. Asked about allegations that China and others amplify opposition to US data centres, he said he did not know whether they were true.
Why it matters
Himes sits in the “Gang of Eight” briefed on classified national security matters, and he spoke two weeks before the US midterm elections.
- When
- 21 Oct 2026
- ID
WTA-N-2026-0360- Where
- United States, China
- Who
- House Intelligence Committee, Brookings Institution; Jim Himes
Summary by wheresthe.ai, from South China Morning Post. We could not open the primary document, so it is marked Reported. Checked against the source on 22 Oct 2026.
Source copy: download the page text as saved on 21 Oct 2026 (PDF). Also held by the Internet Archive.
Cite this story
WTA-N-2026-0360: “US Democrat Jim Himes calls chip restrictions the key lever against China in AI race.” wheresthe.ai, 21 Oct 2026. https://wheresthe.ai/d/us-us-democrat-jim-himes-calls-chip-restrictions-the-key-lev-2026-10/ (source: South China Morning Post).
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