Nvidia reiterates its chips have no backdoors, urges US against location verification
The blog post, which was published on Tuesday in both English and Chinese, comes a week after the Chinese government summoned the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant to a meeting saying it was concerned by a US proposal for advanced chips sold abroad to be equipped with tracking and positioning functions.
The White House and both houses of US Congress have proposed the idea of requiring US chip firms to include location verification technology with their chips to prevent them from being diverted to countries where US export laws ban sales.
The separate bills and White House recommendation have not become a formal rule, and no technical requirements have been established.
'Embedding backdoors and kill switches into chips would be a gift to hackers and hostile actors. It would undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in US technology,' Nvidia said. It had said last week its products have no backdoors that would allow remote access or control.
A backdoor refers to a hidden method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls.
Nvidia emphasised that 'there is no such thing as a 'good' secret backdoor - only dangerous vulnerabilities that need to be eliminated.' REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
27 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Russia says Dodik court ruling threatens Bosnia's unity
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik leaves after a military parade on Victory Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, in Red Square in central Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2025. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File Photo SARAJEVO - Russia on Thursday said that a Bosnian court ruling banning the separatist Bosnian Serb president from political office for defying orders from the international peace envoy has put Bosnia and Herzegovina's existence as a united country at risk. Bosnia's election commission on Wednesday decided to remove Milorad Dodik from office after an appeals court last week upheld a verdict jailing him for a year and banning him from politics for six years. Dodik is a pro-Russian nationalist with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin who has long advocated secession of the Serb-dominated region from Bosnia and has often acted to block Bosnia's integration into the European Union and NATO. In response to the court ruling, the Russian embassy said the "politicised verdict" was brought under the pressure of Western countries which used law-making agencies to "destroy their opponents". "Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot afford to make a historic mistake," the embassy said in a statement. "Has its reputation of the 'European powder keg' been forgotten...? "Because not only the place of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 'democratic European family' is at stake ... Indeed, the existence of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a united country is at stake," the embassy said. In the U.N. Security Council in 2021, Russia and China blocked the endorsement of Christian Schmidt, a former government minister from Germany, as international High Representative in Bosnia with a mandate to prevent multi-ethnic Bosnia sliding back into civil war. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Some ageing condos in Singapore struggle with failing infrastructure, inadequate sinking funds Singapore Wastewater overflow in Bedok and Chai Chee due to choked sewer at BTO worksite: PUB Singapore Teen's love of dance powers her through cancer to perform at NDP2025 Singapore Jail for driver who drove over leg of special needs woman in accident on church driveway Business S'pore firm looks to buy SMEs lacking successors, launches CEO training programme to foster renewal Singapore Ex-Hyflux director fined $90k over water company's failure to disclose information on Tuaspring Asia Kpods, zombie oil or etomidate? A new name may help Hong Kong curb its youth drug crisis World Trump's 100% semiconductor tariffs may hit chipmakers in Singapore, other SEA nations The Bosnian Serb nationalists have never recognised Schmidt as a legal envoy nor respected his decisions. Dodik dismissed his conviction by the court in February. On Wednesday, he announced a referendum on whether he should stay in office and accused Schmidt and Muslims (Bosniaks) of conspiring to bring him down. Russia called on the Bosnian authorities to dismiss the "outside dictate" and work to reduce tensions. "If the situation steps out of control, they will bear the responsibility," the embassy said. "The moment of truth for Bosnia and Herzegovina has come because after this a point of no return may follow." Bosnia is in its worst political crisis since the 1992-95 war, which killed around 100,000 people. The 1995 Dayton peace treaty divided Bosnia into autonomous Serb and Bosniak-Croat federal entities with a weak central government. REUTERS
Straits Times
27 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Solomon Islands blocks US, China, Taiwan from Pacific's top political meet
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Mr Manele said his Cabinet had decided no dialogue partners would be invited to the 2025 event. SYDNEY - Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele has said that 21 donor countries, including the United States and China, will not be invited to the region's top political meeting, a move that follows pressure from Beijing to exclude Taiwan. China's biggest security ally in the Pacific Islands, the Solomon Islands is hosting the annual meeting of the 18-member bloc's forum in September. Three island states have diplomatic ties with Taiwan and not China, and they had expressed concern Taiwanese officials would be blocked from entering the country. Solomon Islands switched ties from Taiwan to China in 2019, and removed Taiwan from a list of countries eligible for concessional entry in April. Beijing, which has deepened its ties in the Pacific, claims Taiwan as its own territory. Mr Manele told the Solomon Islands Parliament on Aug 6 his Cabinet had decided no dialogue partners would be invited to the 2025 event, because a review of each country's relationship with the Pacific nation had not been completed. He said he had informed the forum's 18 leaders of the decision this week. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Some ageing condos in Singapore struggle with failing infrastructure, inadequate sinking funds Singapore Wastewater overflow in Bedok and Chai Chee due to choked sewer at BTO worksite: PUB Singapore Teen's love of dance powers her through cancer to perform at NDP2025 Singapore Jail for driver who drove over leg of special needs woman in accident on church driveway Business S'pore firm looks to buy SMEs lacking successors, launches CEO training programme to foster renewal Singapore Ex-Hyflux director fined $90k over water company's failure to disclose information on Tuaspring Asia Kpods, zombie oil or etomidate? A new name may help Hong Kong curb its youth drug crisis World Trump's 100% semiconductor tariffs may hit chipmakers in Singapore, other SEA nations The World Bank, Asia Development Bank and civil society groups would attend, he added. Opposition party politician Peter Kenilorea Jr, chairman of the Parliament's foreign relations committee, said the decision was "a massive missed opportunity" for Pacific Island countries to meet global donors. "We know this issue is all about China and Taiwan," he told Parliament. After forum leaders were told of the decision, Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine criticised interference in the forum's affairs in a speech to the Taiwan ally's Parliament. China had "interfered" at 2024's meeting in Tonga to change the language of the leaders' communiqué, Ms Heine said. References to Taiwan were removed after Chinese diplomats complained. The Pacific Islands is among the world's most aid-reliant regions, and on the frontline of rising sea levels. The region has also been a focus of increasing security competition between the United States and China. While US allies Australia and New Zealand are the largest forum members, neither Beijing nor Washington are part of the group. Mr Kenilorea Jr said he feared that China, which has a strong presence in Solomon Islands, will hold bilateral meetings with Pacific leaders on the margins of the forum regardless. "This could be seen by some PIF leaders as a betrayal of the collective and could risk an even bigger rift of the group," he said in comments to Reuters. China's embassy did not respond to a request for comment. The forum's foreign ministers will meet in Fiji next week. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Greece may extend North Africa asylum ban if migrant flow resurges
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox FILE PHOTO: Children play near tents as recently arrived migrants shelter at a temporary camp set up on a soccer pitch in the region of Rethymno on Crete island, Greece, June 24, 2025. REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis/File Photo ATHENS - Greece could extend a suspension on examining asylum applications passed by parliament last month if migrant flows from Libya start rising again, Migration Minister Thanos Plevris said on Thursday. In July, the centre-right government stopped processing asylum requests from migrants arriving from North Africa by sea for at least three months in an effort to curb arrivals from Libya to the Greek island of Crete. In an interview with public broadcaster ERT, Plevris said he could not rule out an extension to the suspension if there was a "new crisis". Arrivals of irregular migrants in Crete declined rapidly after the new legislation took effect from 2,642 in the first week of July to 900 in the whole period since then. New legislation is being prepared that will clearly define that "whoever comes into the country illegally will face a jail term of up to five years," Plevris said, referring to those who are not fleeing armed conflict, who could qualify for asylum. Human rights groups accuse Greece of turning back asylum-seekers by force on its sea and land borders. This year, the European Union border agency said it was reviewing 12 cases of potential human rights violations by Greece. The government denies wrongdoing. "All European countries now understand that it is not possible to have open borders, it's not possible to welcome illegal migrants with flowers," Plevris said. "There should be a clear message that countries have borders, (that) Europe has exceeded its capabilities and will not accept any more illegal migrants." Greece has sent two frigates to patrol off Libya and has started training Libyan coast guard officers on Crete as part of a plan to strengthen cooperation and help the two countries stem migrant arrivals. Greece was on the European front line of a migration crisis in 2015-16 when hundreds of thousands from the Middle East, Asia and Africa passed through its islands and mainland. Since then, flows have dropped off dramatically. While there has been a rise in arrivals to the outlying islands of Crete and Gavdos, sea arrivals to Greece as a whole dropped by 5.5% to 17,000 in the first half of this year, U.N. data show. REUTERS
