The United States is exploring methods to equip chips with more powerful location tracking capabilities in efforts to curb the flow of chips produced by companies such as Nvidia to China, a senior official revealed.
The government has been advocating cooperation with the industry to monitor the movement of sensitive components, as part of a broader plan aimed at curbing smuggling and ensuring U.S. technological dominance.
“We are discussing the types of software or physical changes that could be made to the chips themselves to achieve better location tracking,” said Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
“This is a specific aspect that we have included in the plan,” Kratsios told Bloomberg TV.
Smuggling of high-end Nvidia chips continues. According to a report in the Financial Times on July 24, investigations found that over the past three months, over $1 billion worth of Nvidia’s high-end artificial intelligence chips have been smuggled into China.
Kratsios stated on Tuesday that he has not had “private” discussions with Nvidia or AMD about exploring location tracking technology. He was also one of the designers of the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Action Plan announced by President Trump last month.
The White House released the AI Action Plan on July 23, aiming to strengthen U.S. global leadership in the field of AI by easing regulations and implementing new export control measures to restrict access to U.S. technology for countries of concern, including Communist China.
Under the plan, the U.S. Department of Commerce will lead in developing new export control measures for chip manufacturing subsystems to address “loopholes” in existing major system export restrictions.
The Commerce Department will also take the lead in strengthening monitoring of end-users of U.S. exported chips and explore the use of new chip location verification features to exclude them from “countries of concern,” which typically include Communist China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
The plan also directs the Department of Defense and the Commerce Department to coordinate with allies, impose U.S. export control measures, and prohibit U.S. adversaries from participating in their defense supply chains.
Last week, representatives from Beijing met with Nvidia to discuss issues related to location tracking and other so-called security risks associated with Nvidia’s H20 chip.
During his visit to South Korea to attend the APEC Digital Ministerial Meeting, Kratsios targeted the Chinese Communist Party’s AI Action Plan, which involves establishing a global organization to develop governance and technical standards.
“We believe that every country should determine its own fate based on its considerations for AI regulation,” he said. “The U.S. model, which prioritizes innovation, is the most attractive.”
On February 25 this year, Kratsios stated in written testimony during his Senate confirmation hearing that “China has become our top geopolitical competitor as well as our biggest technology competitor.”