Lawmaker worries NSF program loophole enables Chinese institutions to access US-backed computing resources

U.S. lawmakers are probing a loophole in NSF’s ACCESS supercomputing program that may allow Chinese institutions—including the export-restricted National University of Defense and Technology—to access U.S.-funded HPC resources via U.S.-based principal investigators, potentially undermining export controls. Rep. John Moolenaar requested by Feb. 6 detailed records on Chinese entities’ approvals and allocations as the debate intensifies over U.S. chip restrictions and permitted sales of Nvidia’s H200 to China.