As concerns grow that high-performance semiconductors from the U.S. are flowing into China to evade export restrictions, the U.S. Congress has moved forward with legislation aimed at tracking the locations of chips like those from NVIDIA and disabling them in sanctioned countries.
According to Reuters on the 5th (local time), U.S. Congressman Bill Foster (Democrat, Illinois) plans to introduce legislation mandating that semiconductors produced by U.S. corporations like NVIDIA be equipped with post-sale tracking capabilities to prevent them from flowing into banned countries. The bill also requires the Department of Commerce to establish specific implementation rules within six months to apply technologies that block booting if the chips are confirmed to be in sanctioned nations.
Foster noted, "We could actually witness U.S. chips being used by the Chinese Communist Party or military for weapon development or AI tasks. This is not a future problem; it is an issue we face right now."
Following the Biden administration, the U.S. has regulated exports of AI semiconductors. However, concerns about a smuggling market for NVIDIA chips thriving in China continue to be raised. Recently, accusations have emerged that the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has circumvented U.S. sanctions to use NVIDIA chips, increasing calls for stricter regulations.
While NVIDIA maintains that it complies with government sanctions, it has stated that controlling the path of chips completely after sale is practically difficult. In response, Foster rebuffed, saying, "Location tracking technologies already exist, and applying them in the field is not difficult."
Although AI chip location tracking technology has not been widely adopted yet, some global corporations have reportedly utilized it for internal security purposes, according to Reuters.
The current legislation has garnered support from numerous lawmakers, including Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, with some Republican lawmakers also reportedly showing positive reactions. John Mulrenan, chairperson of the U.S.-China Strategic Competition Committee, said, "I agree with the concept of semiconductor location tracking," revealing plans to engage with lawmakers this week for related discussions.