NVIDIA officially declares 'no backdoors, no kill switches, no spyware,' while the Trump administration is considering ways to track semiconductors

In response to Chinese authorities' claims that NVIDIA GPUs contain backdoors, the company has denied the allegations, saying that there are no backdoors, kill switches, or spyware. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has reportedly commented that it is considering software or physical methods to track AI semiconductors.

No Backdoors. No Kill Switches. No Spyware. | NVIDIA Blog
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/no-backdoors-no-kill-switches-no-spyware/

Although the United States strictly controls semiconductor exports to China, NVIDIA and AMD were approved to sell AI chips to China in July 2025, and resumed sales to the Chinese market. However, China's cybersecurity regulator claimed that 'American AI experts have revealed that NVIDIA's computing chips have location tracking capabilities and can be remotely shut down,' and demanded that NVIDIA explain the problem and submit related documents.

Chinese authorities claim that 'NVIDIA GPUs have backdoors' - GIGAZINE

In response, NVIDIA has stated on its official blog that its GPU products do not contain any kill switches, backdoors, or spyware, and that it will not do so in the future.

NVIDIA argued that incorporating control functions into semiconductors violates fundamental cybersecurity principles, stating, 'Embedding control functions into semiconductors creates vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers and hostile attackers, endangering the world's digital infrastructure and undermining trust in American-made technology.'

NVIDIA's firm stance on hardware integrity in a blog post comes as the US government takes a new approach. According to Bloomberg , the White House is considering incorporating location tracking technology into high-performance AI chips to prevent their illegal distribution to China. This move reflects the current situation in which existing export controls alone are not enough to prevent smuggling. One report suggests that more than $1 billion (approximately 150 billion yen) worth of NVIDIA GPUs has been smuggled into China in just three months.

Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and one of the architects of the AI Action Plan , acknowledged in an interview with Bloomberg that 'there is discussion about making software or physical changes to the chips themselves to enable better location tracking.' This idea was explicitly included in the AI Action Plan, released last month, to maintain America's technological superiority. However, there are many challenges with this tracking technology, and because GPS is impractical for use in data centers, other options, such as a delay-based verification system using secure timestamp signals, are being considered.

NVIDIA warned that intentionally weakening critical infrastructure to protect the nation and economy should never be an option and that it would be an overreaction that could cause irreparable damage to America's economic and national security interests. 'Trustworthy systems must be built by eliminating vulnerabilities through rigorous testing, independent verification, and full compliance with international cybersecurity standards,' the company said.