Nvidia developing chip location tech to curb AI processor smuggling
The unreleased software would let data-centre operators verify where high-end GPUs are running, answering growing pressure from Washington while triggering scrutiny in Beijing.
Nvidia has developed a new location-verification feature for its artificial intelligence chips, a move aimed at helping prevent high-end GPUs from being smuggled into countries where exports are banned, according to sources familiar with the technology.
The capability—still unreleased but demonstrated privately in recent months—would come as an optional software update that customers could install. It relies on the confidential-computing functions built into Nvidia’s latest graphics processing units, enabling operators to measure computing performance while using communication delays with Nvidia-run servers to approximate a chip’s physical location, an Nvidia official said.
“We’re in the process of implementing a new software service that empowers data centre operators to monitor the health and inventory of their entire AI GPU fleet,” the company said in a statement. “This customer-installed software agent leverages GPU telemetry to monitor fleet health, integrity and inventory.”
Curbing the illicit flow of advanced AI chips to China
The feature is expected to debut on Nvidia’s new Blackwell-generation chips, which include expanded security and attestation capabilities, though the company is exploring ways to support older Hopper and Ampere models.
If released, the update would answer mounting calls from the White House and bipartisan lawmakers to curb the illicit flow of advanced AI chips to China and other restricted markets.
Those worries intensified after US prosecutors charged China-linked smuggling rings accused of attempting to funnel more than $160 million worth of Nvidia processors into the country.
But the push for geolocation tools has also drawn backlash in Beijing. China’s top cybersecurity regulator has questioned Nvidia over whether such features could act as backdoors enabling US access to secure systems—an accusation Nvidia firmly denies.
The geopolitical tensions resurfaced this week after President Donald Trump said he would permit exports of Nvidia’s H200 chips—the predecessor to the Blackwell line—to China, prompting analysts to doubt whether Chinese authorities would allow companies to purchase them amid heightened scrutiny.
Security specialists say location verification can be built without compromising chip integrity or customer confidentiality, though Nvidia has not announced when or whether the feature will become publicly available.