Over the past week, reports have emerged that a Chinese regulator launched an investigation into Nvidia over allegations of backdoors in its products. While many initially regarded the news with skepticism, it remains plausible that the US lawmakers may have asked Nvidia to include such backdoors — particularly in products intended for export to China.
Nvidia"s chief security officer, David Reber Jr, has published a post on the Nvidia blog, asserting that the company"s GPUs "do not and should not have kill switches and backdoors."
He added that some pundits and policymakers demand that hardware kill switches or built-in controls be installed on GPUs so that they can be disabled without the owner"s knowledge or consent. Plus, some people might think these backdoors already exist on Nvidia products.
The roots of the dispute trace back to May, when a group of US lawmakers introduced the Chip Security Act. The bill urges Nvidia and other American manufacturers to embed tracking technologies in their products to prevent their illicit transfer to certain adversarial nations. This includes remote embedding kill switches to disable the product.
"There is no such thing as a "good" secret backdoor — only dangerous vulnerabilities that need to be eliminated. Product security must always be done the right way: through rigorous internal testing, independent validation, and full compliance with global cybersecurity standards." David Reber Jr added.
Nvidia"s chief security officer also described kill switches as "an open invitation for disaster," and likened it to "buying a car where the dealership keeps a remote control for the parking brake — just in case they decide you shouldn"t be driving." He added that this is not a policy, but an overreaction that damages the US economy and national security interests.
Nvidia has recently obtained approval to export its H20 chips to China; however, some of its most advanced products still require highly restrictive, special export licenses.
While the chip maker is allowed to restore operations in China, analysts predict that it will lose more market share to domestic rivals. The growing suspicion among Chinese authorities could potentially result in a complete ban on the import of Nvidia chips into the country.