Overview

• The White House is exploring software or hardware modifications to enable real-time AI chip location tracking, but officials have not yet consulted major suppliers Nvidia or AMD on the concept.
• Bipartisan bills passed in May would obligate the Commerce Department to ensure advanced AI chips include embedded location-verification mechanisms to detect post-export diversions.
• Senators Elizabeth Warren and Mike Rounds have urged regulators to keep strict offshoring limits on AI infrastructure to preserve domestic computing capacity.
• Chinese authorities have summoned Nvidia representatives to probe alleged backdoors in China-bound H20 GPUs over claims they could allow U.S. services to monitor or disable the chips.
• Despite tightened export curbs, analysts estimate that around $1 billion worth of Nvidia’s high-end GPUs have been smuggled into China’s black market.