SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 6 (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 ( NVDA ) most advanced artificial

intelligence chips.

The letter comes a day after Nvidia ( NVDA ) 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 ( NVDA ) 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 ( NVDA ).

"We applaud your foresight and wisdom in continuing to withhold

America's most advanced semiconductors from Communist China,

which includes Nvidia's ( NVDA ) 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.