NVIDIA logo is seen near computer motherboard in this illustration taken January 8, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -A group of eight Republican U.S. senators in a letter on Thursday applauded President Donald Trump's decision to continue denying China access to Nvidia's most advanced artificial intelligence chips.

The letter comes a day after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told the Financial Times that China was likely to beat the U.S. in the global AI race, later adding on X that "America wins by racing ahead and winning developers worldwide."

Huang has repeatedly made the case that keeping China's massive base of AI software developers using American chips is key to U.S. success.

Ahead of a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, concern had mounted among China hawks in Washington that Trump would allow Nvidia to sell a version of its flagship "Blackwell" chips in China after Trump said the chips would be part of the talks.

U.S. lawmakers from Trump's Republican Party as well as the Democratic Party had urged Trump not to allow Chinese access to the chips. Trump ultimately did not lift any export control restrictions on Nvidia.

"We applaud your foresight and wisdom in continuing to withhold America's most advanced semiconductors from Communist China, which includes Nvidia's Blackwell," the group of Republican senators wrote. "As you have said, America is the country that started the Al race, and this decision will help ensure America wins that race."

The lawmakers who signed the letter were: Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas, Sen. Jim Banks of Indiana, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. Bill Hagerty of Tennessee.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Mark Porter)