Hong Kong
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High-tech company Nvidia’s H20 chips raises security concerns in China, a social media account associated with China’s state-run media.
China can choose not to buy the H20 chips from US tech company Nvidia, the account of Yuyuan Tantian, who is affiliated with the state broadcaster CCTV, said as it claims that artificial intelligence (AI) chips have a “background” that affects functionality and security.
“If the type of chip is not environmentally friendly, sophisticated, safe, consumer-safe, we certainly can choose not to buy it,” said the commentary that came after China’s cybersecurity administration raised concerns about backdoor access for these chips.
Nvidia has repeatedly denied that its products have a backdoor.
Access to American technology, particularly high-end chips that can be used to develop artificial intelligence, have become a key issue of trade and technology friction between rival economies.
The trade ceasefire between the two countries, which reduced triple-girder tariffs, is expected to expire on August 12, but authorities have indicated that the extension could come into effect after talks in Sweden last month.
Nvidia said last month that it would resume selling H20 chips to China after the White House changed course on export restrictions imposed in April as trade frictions deepened with China. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent told Bloomberg in an interview that Nvidia’s export controls are “negotiation tips” for large US-China trade talks.
NVIDIA and another high-tech company Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), in exchange for export licenses, have agreed to pay 15% of revenue from semiconductor sales to the US government to China, with 15% of revenue from China, Financial Times reported on Sunday.
The unprecedented Quid Pro Quo arrangement is part of a contract with the Trump administration, obtaining export licenses to sell Nvidia’s H20 chips and AMD’s Mi308 chips in China, reported that the FT cites people familiar with the situation, including US civil servants. The New York Times and Reuters also reported a 15% commission deal, citing sources later.
Nvidia released H20 chips last year, maintaining access to the Chinese market, increasing processing capacity and halting chip exports, following strict export controls set under the Biden administration.
Last month’s Nvidia announcement announced that H20 chips could be exported to China. This has sparked concern among US lawmakers who support close control to prevent China from using American technology to advance military and AI systems.
China’s concerns about chip security come after the White House last month recommended that export controls be implemented to verify the location of advanced artificial intelligence chips. China’s cyberspace regulator summoned Nvidia later last month on security concerns about the “tracking and positioning” and “remote shutdown” features.
In a blog post published last week, Nvidia reiterated that its chip does not have backdoors, spyware or kill switches, saying, “Embedded backdoors and killing switches on the chip would be a gift for hackers and hostile actors.”
China’s security concerns appear to reflect what the US has expressed about China’s technology in the past. Most notably, the first Trump administration’s campaign against the growth of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s foothold in global communications infrastructure.
The Chinese leader is also pushing the country’s tech companies to become self-sufficient and achieve Beijing’s AI and tech ambitions by reducing their reliance on American-made chips, with experts saying chip controls like the H20 could encourage China to speed up their own innovations.
However, the only technique that suggests a report is not the only technique that reports being caught up in negotiations between the two parties.
China wants the US to facilitate export control of key elements of artificial intelligence chips as part of a trade deal ahead of the possibility of a summit between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Chinese officials told Washington experts that Beijing hopes the Trump administration will ease export restrictions on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, and the FT reported citing several people familiar with the issue.
The US government imposed export controls on the sale of such memory chips to China last year.
