The Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) has formally raised concerns with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth over reported plans to designate an artificial intelligence company as a supply-chain risk in the context of a procurement dispute.
In a letter dated Wednesday and addressed to Hegseth, the ITI - whose membership includes Nvidia, Amazon.com and Apple - said it was "concerned by recent reports regarding the Department of War’s consideration of imposing a supply chain risk designation in response to a procurement dispute." The letter did not explicitly name the company under consideration.
The communication from the trade group comes after senior administration actions last week. President Donald Trump announced a federal agency-wide ban on the company at the center of the dispute, imposing a six-month phaseout for affected systems, and Hegseth directed Pentagon suppliers to remove the company's AI tools from their supply chains.
In its note to the Pentagon chief, the ITI warned that implementing a supply-chain risk declaration in this case "threatens to undermine the government’s access to the best-in-class products and services from American companies that serve all agencies and components of the federal government." The group framed the move as creating uncertainty for firms that provide technology and services to the government.
ITI's letter highlighted concern that treating a procurement disagreement as a supply-chain designation could have broader consequences across government procurement channels. While the letter did not delve into further detail about potential remedies or next steps, it emphasized the risk to continuity of access to U.S. providers.
Context and immediate actions reported:
- Last week, the President announced an agency-wide ban on the AI company, accompanied by a six-month phaseout period.
- Pentagon leadership ordered its suppliers to purge the company's AI tools from their supply chains.
- The ITI letter to the Pentagon chief expressed concern about the prospect of a supply-chain risk designation emerging from a procurement dispute.
The letter underscores an industry perspective that designating a vendor as a supply-chain risk in the midst of a procurement disagreement could generate uncertainty for technology suppliers and for government components reliant on commercial AI tools. The ITI characterized its view as protective of continued government access to what it deemed best-in-class American products and services.
Details about any formal supply-chain risk designation process or potential appeals were not included in the ITI letter as described, and the correspondence did not name the company directly. The reported ban, phaseout timeline and Pentagon supplier purge remain the concrete actions described in the public accounts referenced by the ITI.