Nvidia warns that any GPU 'kill switch' or 'backdoor' into its AI chips would 'fracture trust in US technology'
The chip giant said governments should not be allowed to spy on its customers, emphatically arguing against software backdoors into its GPUs, which are used to train and run many of the AI models created by Big Tech companies and startups.
"NVIDIA GPUs do not and should not have kill switches and backdoors," Nvidia's chief security officer, David Reber Jr, wrote in a Tuesday blog post titled "No Backdoors. No Kill Switches. No Spyware."
Chinese officials expressed concern to Nivida last week about potential "backdoor security risks" in Nivida's H20 chips, which are specifically designed for the Chinese market, and requested a meeting with the company, The New York Times reported.
Nvidia said that allowing potential backdoors, or a way for outside parties to access or control the chips without the owner's detection, would make the overall technology more vulnerable and "fracture trust in US technology."
Apple has previously strongly opposed the idea of software backdoors, with CEO Tim Cook once calling the idea "the software equivalent of cancer." Apple publicly fought FBI pressure in 2016 to create custom software to help unlock a dead shooter's iPhone and earlier this year pushed back against a"secret order" from the UK government seeking to force the company to grant backdoor access to iCloud user data.
Nvidia's chips are a hot commodity in the AI industry, and are used by OpenAI, Meta, and other major companies to train and operate advanced AI language models.
"Hardwiring a kill switch into a chip is something entirely different: a permanent flaw beyond user control, and an open invitation for disaster," Nvidia's Reber wrote. "It's like buying a car where the dealership keeps a remote control for the parking brake — just in case they decide you shouldn't be driving. That's not sound policy. It's an overreaction that would irreparably harm America's economic and national security interests."
Reber said it isn't accurate to compare some potential monitoring to "Find my iPhone" or similar services.
"That comparison doesn't hold water — optional software features, controlled by the user, are not hardware backdoors," he said.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently secured a major win with President Donald Trump, with the company planning to resume shipments of its H20 chips to the Chinese market after receiving what it said were assurances from the Trump administration that the exports would be approved following earlier restrictions.
Huang has repeatedly said that if the US wants to win the AI race, it must allow US companies to do business around the world, including in China. Nvidia declined to comment further to Business Insider.
Trump's AI plan calls for the government to work with industry partners to "explore leveraging new and existing location verification features on advanced AI compute to ensure that the chips are not in countries of concern."
The White House's location tracking recommendation mirrors a bipartisan bill in Congress, the Chip Security Act, which would require the Secretary of Commerce to ensure that certain chips are outfitted with location security mechanisms. Unlike the White House plan, the legislation also allows for additional security safeguards, though any additional measures would only come after a security review.
"The Chip Security Act is the best approach to disrupt nefarious actors from gaining access to critical technologies," Rep. Bill Huizenga of Michigan, a Republican and the bill's lead author in the House, said in a statement to BI. "This bipartisan legislation does not require the inclusion of spyware or kill switches—any statements to the contrary are disingenuous."
A senior congressional aide working on the bill told Business Insider that the legislation would likely not require Nvidia or other major chip manufacturers to make hardware changes to their chips.
"The legislation is focused instead on location verification capabilities, which are already included in the majority of high-end AI chips and would likely require no hardware changes whatsoever," the aide said.
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