The Senate's new SAFE bill is set to curb access to advanced chips to China, but that won't slow down the AI war
Reuters reports that the mechanism behind the tracking software can not only read GPU telemetry, but also incorporates timing measurements taken from communication between customer systems and Nvidia servers. By analyzing this latency, the software can estimate the location of the GPU with roughly the same precision offered by standard Internet-based geolocation services, according to Reuters . There are two things to note, though. Actual location-based services use IP address and Wi-Fi positioning, but while the former makes sense for data center hardware, Wi-Fi positioning may not work well in remote rural areas, where many of China's AI data centers are located. The company stresses that this is a customer-installed software agent rather than a hidden function, and that it relies on legitimate GPU telemetry rather than any concealed access pathway.
The feature is slated to appear first on the latest Blackwell-generation components, which include strengthened capabilities for 'attestation,' a process that verifies that the hardware and software stack have not been altered. According to Reuters, citing a company representative, these AI accelerators contain more advanced verification logic than the preceding Hopper and Ampere families; however, it is unclear whether Nvidia can remotely disable hardware if it is used in a prohibited region.
Meanwhile, China’s main cybersecurity regulator has summoned Nvidia for questioning over concerns that verification functions could act as backdoors accessible to the U.S. government. Nvidia has firmly rejected the notion that its hardware contains any backdoors, and reading hardware telemetry does not undermine cryptographic protections and other security features.
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Key considerations
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/gpus/nvidia-develops-software-based-tracking-for-ai-gpus-to-quash-smuggling-concerns-solution-devised-to-prevent-shipments-to-nations-with-export-controls-in-place#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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