Tech giant Nvidia said on Thursday that its chips do not contain any "backdoors" that would allow others to remotely access or control them, following concerns from China over the security of the company's H20 artificial intelligence chip.
"Cybersecurity is critically important to us," a Nvidia spokesperson told FOX Business in an email. "Nvidia does not have 'backdoors' in our chips that would give anyone a remote way to access or control them."
China's internet watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China, reportedly summoned the world’s largest chip manufacturer for a meeting on Thursday to discuss whether there were any backdoor security risks to its H20 AI chip — referring to secret ways of bypassing authentication or security controls, Reuters reported.
The Nvidia headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (Loren Elliott/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Chinese regulator, citing fears over user data and privacy rights, expressed concerns about a U.S. proposal to add tracking features to American-made chips sold overseas. Both the White House and Congress have floated the idea of requiring U.S. chipmakers to incorporate location-verification technology into their chips, but no laws have been passed, according to Reuters.
Earlier this month, a private meeting between President Donald Trump and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang led to the undoing of a ban on transferring its H20 AI chip to China, a multibillion-dollar boon for the company.
A Chinese national flag decorates the Erzsebet Bridge in Budapest, Hungary on May 8, 2024. (ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The Commerce Department had restricted sales of the chip in April, costing Nvidia billions of dollars, and undoing the ban was meant as a concession in a minerals deal in which China would stop restricting access to its rare earths.
Nvidia's products are in high demand across China, including among tech companies, the military, universities and AI research institutes, Reuters reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House during an event on "Investing in America" on April 30, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images / Getty Images)
China has previously accused U.S. tech companies of posing threats to security, and in 2023, the country prohibited key infrastructure operators from buying products from American memory chipmaker Micron, according to Reuters.
Last week, Huang said in an interview that the Trump administration's artificial intelligence plan was poised to boost innovation and AI deployment in the U.S.
FOX Business' MorganPhillips contributed to this report.