Recap: Almost a week after China claimed its data center GPUs contained security and privacy issues, Nvidia has published a post ensuring the public that there are no backdoors, kill switches, or spyware in its products. Some experts say the technology needed for real-time GPU tracking -- which US politicians are calling for -- is already built into the chips.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) last week said that Beijing authorities had summoned Nvidia to discuss national security concerns related to the China-specific H20 chip, including potential tracking and backdoors, which could allow remote access to the GPUs.
This week, Nvidia's Chief Security Officer David Reber wrote that the company's products "do not and should not have kill switches and backdoors."
Reber adds that embedding backdoors and kill switches into chips would not only benefit hackers and hostile actors, but it would also undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in US technology.
"There are no back doors in Nvidia chips. No kill switches. No spyware. That's not how trustworthy systems are built – and never will be," Reber concluded.
During an AI summit in Washington held in July, Nvidia was given permission to resume sales of its H20 data center GPUs in China. The company was forced to stop sales of the chip, which is designed to stay below the US performance-density threshold, in April – a pause that cost Nvidia a $4.5 billion write-off. The White House reportedly restarted the sales to prevent China from overtaking the US in the global chip race.
The US has accused Chinese companies and products of having security vulnerabilities for years, from the blacklisted Huawei and ZTE to drone manufacturer DJI and DeepSeek AI. Even TP-Link's popular routers are under investigation.
China's claims that Nvidia's GPUs have tracking technology aren't surprising. US politicians have been pushing for a system that tracks Nvidia chips that are being smuggled into China, bypassing the US export bans. Experts say that much of the technology needed for this real-time tracking is already integrated into the chips.
CAC noted these calls in its post. It added that American AI experts had revealed that Nvidia's chips pose mature "tracking and positioning" and "remote shutdown" technologies.
It's unlikely that Nvidia's post will convince Chinese authorities the GPUs are safe, though its main purpose is to respond to the CAC's message and hopefully reassure the public.