Foreign Investment Guardrails to Help Thwart (FIGHT) China Act

• Authority: United States Congress
• Parent authority: Federal government
• Jurisdiction: United States
• Collections: U.S. federal laws
• Most recent activity: Proposed
• Most recent activity date: 2025-03-21

Risk subdomain coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the risk subdomain are explicitly described.

• Disinformation, surveillance, and influence at scale
• Cyberattacks, weapon development or use
• Competitive dynamics
• AI possessing dangerous capabilities

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the risk subdomain are described.

• Compromise of privacy
• AI system security vulnerabilities

All other risk subdomains had no coverage in this document.

Risk Coverage Summary

The document primarily addresses national security risks related to malicious actors (4.1, 4.2), AI system security vulnerabilities (2.2), competitive dynamics (6.4), and dangerous AI capabilities (7.2). It focuses on preventing adversarial development of advanced AI and semiconductor technologies through investment restrictions and sanctions, with minimal coverage of other risk domains.

Sector coverage

Good coverage — Comprehensive governance measures or mitigations with clear procedures relating to the sector are explicitly described.

• Agriculture, Mining, Construction & Manufacturing
• Information
• Finance & Insurance
• Scientific Research & Development Services
• National Security

Minimal coverage — Brief mention but no specific mitigations, recommendations or governance measures relating to the sector are described.

• Real Estate, Rental & Leasing
• Professional & Technical Services
• Public Administration (excl. National Security)

All other sectors had no coverage in this document.

Sectors Summary

This legislation primarily governs the Information sector (AI development, semiconductors, telecommunications), Scientific Research and Development Services (AI and quantum research), and National Security sector. It also has significant implications for Finance and Insurance (investment restrictions), Professional and Technical Services (IT consultants, engineering), and Manufacturing (semiconductor fabrication).

Legislative Status

Hard Law

Legislative Status Summary

This is a binding legislative act from the U.S. Congress with mandatory prohibitions, civil penalties up to $250,000 or twice the transaction value, enforcement mechanisms, and divestment requirements.

Actors

Proposer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: United States Congress; Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America
• Summary: The document is proposed legislation from the U.S. Congress, as indicated by the opening text 'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled'.

Target

• Entity Types: AI_Developer, AI_Deployer, AI_Infrastructure_Provider, Affected_Stakeholder
• Entities: United States persons; covered foreign persons; People's Republic of China entities; Chinese Communist Party members; entities on Non-SDN Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List
• Summary: The Act targets U.S. persons who invest in or transact with Chinese entities in prohibited technology sectors, and Chinese entities ('covered foreign persons') involved in defense, surveillance, AI, and semiconductor sectors. It also targets holders of securities of listed Chinese companies.

Enforcer

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Secretary of the Treasury; President of the United States; Attorney General of the United States; Department of the Treasury; Office of Foreign Assets Control; Secretary of Commerce; Department of Commerce
• Summary: The Secretary of the Treasury has primary enforcement authority, with the President having sanction authority and the Attorney General authorized to seek judicial relief. The Department of Commerce has a consultative and coordination role.

Monitor

• Entity Types: AI_Governance_Actor
• Entities: Secretary of the Treasury; Secretary of Commerce; appropriate congressional committees; Committee on Financial Services; Committee on Foreign Affairs; Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Committee on Foreign Relations
• Summary: The Secretary of the Treasury is required to monitor compliance through notification requirements, maintain databases, and submit annual reports to Congress. Congressional committees receive reports and testimony on enforcement actions and national security threats.

AI Lifecycle Stages

Lifecycle stages covered by the documents, as defined in the OECD Framework for the Classification of AI Systems

• Plan and Design
• Build and Use Model
• Deploy
• Operate and Monitor

AI Lifecycle Summary

The document covers multiple AI lifecycle stages with primary focus on Build and Use Model, Deploy, and Operate and Monitor stages. It regulates the development, production, and deployment of advanced AI systems, particularly those with military or surveillance applications, through investment prohibitions and notification requirements.

Technical Scope

Terms relating to technical scope that are mentioned or implicitly referenced in the document

• AI Models
• AI Systems
• Compute Threshold
• Task-specific AI

Technical Scope Summary

The document explicitly covers AI models and AI systems with detailed technical specifications. It addresses advanced AI trained with 10^25 FLOPs or more, AI using advanced integrated circuits meeting ECCN 3A090 specifications, and AI designed for military or surveillance purposes. It includes compute thresholds and references to advanced semiconductors but does not explicitly use terms like 'frontier AI', 'general purpose AI', or 'foundation models'.