Nvidia develops software-based tracking for AI GPUs to quash smuggling concerns — solution devised to prevent shipments to nations with export controls in place

Despite the best efforts of the U.S. government to prevent Chinese entities from obtaining the latest AI and HPC processors developed in America, Chinese companies still manage to get them by either smuggling them to the People’s Republic or by installing them in a nearby country to use them remotely. To put an end to this, U.S. legislators proposed to install tracking devices on AI processors, such as Nvidia’s Blackwell, to disable them remotely if they are used illegally by an adversary nation. While Nvidia opposed the measure to install a hardware tracking device, it has developed a software solution that does the same, reports Reuters.

Nvidia officially positions its tracking technology, which can approximate the physical location of its AI processors, as a way for infrastructure operators to oversee their GPU fleets as well as monitor their health. As an added bonus, the feature also addresses political demands in the United States to curb illegal diversion of advanced AI GPUs to restricted markets such as China, North Korea, or Russia, according to Reuters. The capability has only been demonstrated confidentially as the company has not yet deployed it publicly, though it does not deny its existence. Yet, it has not formally confirmed that the software can determine the physical location of Nvidia’s hardware.