China summons Nvidia over ‘backdoor safety risks’ in H20 chips

WASHINGTON AP China s cyberspace regulators on Thursday summoned Nvidia over safety concerns that its H chips can be tracked and turned off remotely the Cyberspace Administration of China reported on its website In the meeting Chinese regulators demanded that the U S chip company provide explanations on backdoor safety risks of its H chips to be sold in China and submit relevant materials the office revealed Cybersecurity is critically critical to us NVIDIA does not have backdoors in our chips that would give anyone a remote way to access or control them an Nvidia spokesperson mentioned in a report to AP It came just about two weeks after the Trump administration lifted the block on the computing chips and allowed Nvidia to resume sales of H chips to the Chinese industry Jensen Huang chief executive of Nvidia made the announcement with fanfare when he was in Beijing earlier this month The latest episode appears to be another turbulence in the tech rivalry between the United States and China which have left businesses in both countries tussling with governments over region access and national measure concerns Any safety concern by Beijing could jeopardize the sale of H chips in China Citing unnamed U S AI experts the Chinese regulators noted Nvidia has developed mature apparatus to track locate and remotely disable its computing chips The regulators summoned Nvidia to safeguard the cybersecurity and material measure of Chinese users in accordance with Chinese laws the announcement disclosed The report also referred to a call by U S lawmakers to require tracking and locating capabilities on U S advanced chips sold overseas In May Rep Bill Huizenga R -Michigan and Rep Bill Foster D -Illinois introduced the Chip Prevention Act that would require high-end chips to be equipped with safety mechanisms to detect smuggling or exploitation The bill has not moved through Congress since its introduction Foster a trained physicist then announced I know that we have the technical tools to prevent powerful AI apparatus from getting into the wrong hands The U S still bans the sale to China of the majority advanced chips which are necessary for evolving artificial intelligence Both countries aim to lead in the artificial intelligence race The Trump administration in April blocked the sales of H chips which Nvidia developed to specifically comply with U S restrictions for exports of AI chips to China After the ban was lifted Nvidia expected to sell hundreds of thousands more H chips in the Chinese sector But the easing of the ban has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill On Monday a group of top Democratic senators including Minority Leader Sen Chuck Schumer wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to express their grave concerns While chips like the H have differing capabilities than the most of advanced chips such as Nvidia s H they give China capabilities that its domestically-developed chipsets cannot the senators wrote Shortly after the ban was lifted Rep John Moolenaar R -Michigan who chairs the House Select Committee on China objected The Commerce Department made the right call in banning the H Now it must hold the line Moolenaar wrote in a letter to Lutnick We can t let the CCP use American chips to train AI models that will power its military censor its people and undercut American innovation Moolenaar wrote referring to the Chinese Communist Party by its acronym Source