(PCMag)
To stop China from obtaining cutting-edge chips, a US senator is floating the idea of requiring a location-tracking system for Nvidia GPUs, including the GeForce RTX 4090 and 5090.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) says his Chips Security Act "will prevent American chips from falling into the hands of adversaries like Communist China.”
Cotton’s goal is to allow international sales of advanced AI chips from companies like Nvidia and AMD without compromising national security. But those firms may not be in favor of implementing "chip security mechanisms” to help the US detect suspected “smuggling or exploitation” of advanced GPUs.
The bill would require GPU makers to "implement location verification, using techniques that are feasible and appropriate” within 180 days of the legislation becoming law.
The plan is to use the location tracking to tell if an high-end GPU is sold to other locations outside of the original export license. The same security mechanism could also detect if the GPU had been tampered with to “spoof, manipulate, mislead or circumvent location verification mechanisms or other chip security mechanisms,” the bill says.
Cotton’s Chips Security Act would ensnare Nvidia’s top-tier RTX 4090 and the RTX 5090 graphics cards for consumers. That’s because the bill would require the chip security mechanism for products covered under US Export Control Classification Numbers 3A090 and 4A090. Those controls have applied to Nvidia’s enterprise-grade GPUs for AI training, in addition to the RTX 4090, the company revealed in a 2023 SEC filing.
In response, Nvidia created downgraded versions of the RTX 4090 and 5090 for the Chinese market to comply with US export controls.
In the House, Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) plans to introduce similar legislation, Reuters reports.
Cotton's bill suggests the GPU-location tracking system would only apply to advanced chips meant for export outside the country. The senator introduced his legislation as the Trump administration scrapped Biden-era rules designed to curb AI chip exports to certain foreign markets, starting on May 15.
“These new requirements would have stifled American innovation and saddled companies with burdensome new regulatory requirements,” the US Commerce Department announced today. “The AI Diffusion Rule also would have undermined US diplomatic relations with dozens of countries by downgrading them to second-tier status.”
Instead, the Commerce Department plans on replacing the Biden-era rules with its own regulation in the future. In the meantime, the department says it’s also issued guidance “warning the public about the potential consequences of allowing US AI chips to be used for training and interference of Chinese AI models.”