China’s internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, announced on Thursday that it had summoned Nvidia to explain security risks associated with one of its artificial intelligence chips developed for the Chinese market.
The regulator said it had requested that Nvidia explain “backdoor security risks associated with its H20 computing chips sold to China and submit relevant supporting documentation,” citing information it said had been revealed by “U.S. artificial intelligence experts” that the company’s chips could be shut down remotely or used to track a user’s location.
The H20 has been at the center of the increasingly heated contest between the United States and China for primacy over artificial intelligence.
Earlier this month, Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, persuaded the Trump administration to lift an earlier ban on sales of the chip to China, in a remarkable reversal of a yearslong effort by officials in Washington to slow Beijing’s technological and military progress.
Mr. Huang met in recent weeks with senior officials in both Washington and Beijing, where he repeated his argument that American technology companies must do business in China to stay competitive.
Former top officials in the administration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. have warned that allowing Nvidia to sell the chips in China could set Chinese companies up to gain an irreversible dominance over artificial intelligence.
The H20 is not Nvidia’s most powerful chip, but it is coveted by Chinese companies for use in artificial intelligence systems. The reversal comes at a crucial time when Chinese A.I. companies are working to improve their technology and catch up to American rivals.
China accounted for $17 billion of Nvidia’s revenue during its last fiscal year, according to the advisory firm Bernstein Research, and Mr. Huang has previously said that the company expected to sell billions of dollars of chips in China this year. In Beijing earlier this month, Mr. Huang declined to estimate exactly how many H20 chips would now be sold in China.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Siyi Zhao contributed research from Beijing.
Meaghan Tobin covers business and tech stories in Asia with a focus on China and is based in Taipei.
Xinyun Wu is a reporter and researcher for The Times in Taipei, covering technology, Taiwan and China.
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