USA plans Kill switch for Nvidia chips

How do high-performance AI chips worth 15 billion euros in China end up despite strict export controls? The US government is now planning drastic measures: Nvidia processors are also to be monitored after the sale.

USA wants to monitor Nvidia chips after the sale

The US government is working on measures against flourishing black trade with powerful AI chips. That goes from one Report of the Reuters news agency emerged. Reuters quotes exclusively to the democratic MP Bill Foster, who wants to bring in a draft law that is intended to enable the location tracking of Nvidia processors even after their sale.

No export license, no function

This law would oblige US authorities to develop rules for location verification and prevent the chips from being able to start up without proper export licenses-it is also about a kill switch that can deactivate the chips.

Billion dollar business despite export controls

The chips from NVIDIA are decisive components for the development of AI systems such as chatbots and image generators, but could also be used for other specialized applications such as the development of biological weapons. Both the current Trump government and predecessor Joe Biden gradually exacerbated the export controls for this technology to China. Nevertheless, it is said that the Chinese market in the last financial year of NVIDIA met a turnover of around $ 17 billion (around 15 billion euros) or 13 percent of the total turnover of the company.

Technology for location tracking already available

As Reuters reports, Nvidia claims not being able to pursue products after the sale. The MP Foster, who worked as a particle physicist and developed several computer chips during his scientific career, contradicts this presentation. Infographic microchips: NVIDIA thanks to AI boom for the first time in semiconductor top-5

Tracking already possible?

According to him – and other independent experts, according to Reuters – the technology for tracking the chips is easily available after the sale, whereby the necessary functions should already be integrated in the NVIDIA chips. For example, Google already uses location tracking for its in-house AI chips in its data centers for security reasons.