The Stop Stealing our Chips Act offers 10–30% of collected fines to informants who provide original information that leads to an enforcement action, and protects them from retaliation.
The Senate passed the Stop Stealing Our Chips Act on May 20. The bill amends the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to establish a whistleblower incentive program targeting violations of U.S. AI chip export controls, with a stated focus of limiting access to leading-edge AI chips by adversarial nations. It now heads to the House.
How the rewards work
The Commerce Department must establish a secure online portal within 120 days of enactment.
Once a claim is made, initial credibility reviews must be completed within 60 days of submission. Commerce must provide updates to the informant every 90 days after that. Anonymous submissions are allowed, although identity disclosure is required to collect an award.
Awards are funded through the Export Compliance Accountability Fund, a new Treasury account stocked by fines collected from whistleblower-initiated actions.
Whistleblowers who provide information leading to a fine can earn 10–30% of the amount collected.
Retaliation protections
Employers may not retaliate against employees for reporting violations. Those who face retaliation can sue in federal court and, if they prevail, are entitled to reinstatement, two times back pay with interest, and attorney fees.
Protections do not apply to employees who consciously report false information. Employees in compliance roles may face additional eligibility restrictions, with some exceptions for obstruction or imminent financial harm.
The House has not introduced a companion bill as yet.
This is not the first amendment to the Export Control Reform Act designed to curb foreign access to AI technology. The House recently passed H.R. 2683, the Remote Access Security Act, a bill designed to prevent foreign adversaries, particularly Chinese entities, from accessing American AI chips and advanced compute capabilities through cloud and remote network connections.
