US Senator Introduces Bill Calling For Location-Tracking on AI Chips To Limit China Access (reuters.com) 49
A U.S. senator introduced a bill on Friday that would direct the Commerce Department to require location verification mechanisms for export-controlled AI chips, in an effort to curb China's access to advanced semiconductor technology. From a report: Called the "Chip Security Act," the bill calls for AI chips under export regulations, and products containing those chips, to be fitted with location-tracking systems to help detect diversion, smuggling or other unauthorized use of the product.
"With these enhanced security measures, we can continue to expand access to U.S. technology without compromising our national security," Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said. The bill also calls for companies exporting the AI chips to report to the Bureau of Industry and Security if their products have been diverted away from their intended location or subject to tampering attempts.
"With these enhanced security measures, we can continue to expand access to U.S. technology without compromising our national security," Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said. The bill also calls for companies exporting the AI chips to report to the Bureau of Industry and Security if their products have been diverted away from their intended location or subject to tampering attempts.
Yo Dawg... (Score:2)
We heard you liked chips, so we put locater chips on your AI chips so you can sell chips without China getting your chips.
What could go wrong? (Score:2)
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The estimate I've heard is "about 5 years and a tiny bit more". Of course, this depends on exactly which chips you are talking about. IIUC, Holland is still the only source for the best photolithography machines. That may slow them down a bit...unless the US pisses off the EU.
In other news... (Score:5, Insightful)
... a U.S. Senator is an idiot.
Re:In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry my moderation will go away because of this comment
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I don't know why the editors here didn't actually quote the submitted article.
"U.S. Representative Bill Foster, a Democrat from Illinois who once worked as a particle physicist, said the technology to track chips after they are sold is readily available, with much of it already built in to Nvidia's chips. Independent technical experts interviewed by Reuters agreed.
Foster, who successfully designed multiple computer chips during his scientific career, plans to introduce in coming weeks a bill that would dire
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My ping time suggests that computer signals do not in fact move at the speed of light. This sounds like a massive pain in the ass false positive waiting to happen. If the US wants to make sure nobody want
Re: In other news... (Score:2)
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My ping time suggests that computer signals do not in fact move at the speed of light. This sounds like a massive pain in the ass false positive waiting to happen. If the US wants to make sure nobody wants to buy its chips, this is probably a great way to do it.
This is true.
A rule of thumb is that wired devices run around 60-70 percent of the speed of light. And that in free space, Light moves around a foot per nanosecond.
IT would be pretty complex anyhow. And then there are VPNs, which can be based in the US, but might be anywhere else.
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I think more like this whole concept is flawwed, since a chip can't communicate with squat.
You need a network connection; which means you need complex software to incorporate a TCP/IP stack,
and these are just chips not bloody computer systems. In addition if you had a way to embed a TCP stack
on your GPU; you would still need a PHY and an Ethernet controller and some way of hooking a network cable to that PHY. This would immediately become a security issue, since you are connecting this to the internet,
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Exactly. This law effectively mandates an Intel Management Engine style system that will disable hardware if it can't communicate back to its home server. And of course it'll have remote update and remote kill switches too in case the laws change where it's allowed. Oh and it takes money to manage those servers so you'll need a subscription to access the hardware after you bought it. Ignore that the traffic coming out of the device is a lot larger than expected. Someone accidentally left the diagnostic
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How does the fact that 85% of the chips in question are manufactured in Taiwan affect this? It seems like if you want to keep AI chips out of Chinese (meaning PRC) hands, you're going to have to be ready to put boots on the ground in Taiwan.
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Nah he's not a fancy lad like that, he humbly attended Harvard, then Claremont (gross) and then Harvard Law.
That's why it's such a joke to see these folks out there saying college is for losers, they made sure to go and they all make sure their kids go and go to the best schools as well.
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Holy shit that's a new one to me, that guy? That's far more potent an example than Cotton. Damn
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... a U.S. Senator is an idiot.
To be fair, "idiot" and "uninformed" (or "uneducated") are different things. Many of people are uninformed about a lot of things, especially technical stuff, and some are willfully ignorant. Politicians often seem to fall into those categories. Their lack of self-awareness about it is whole other thing...
A Smarty Man (Score:2)
From the article: '"With these enhanced security measures, we can continue to expand access to U.S. technology without compromising our national security," Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas said.'
Tom Cotton confidently opined that Trump was going to peacefully step down from power if he lost the 2020 election. Upon losing the 2020 election, Trump did not peacefully step down from power.
How...EXACTLY...does he propose that this work? (Score:5, Insightful)
And even if all these issues were magically solved, China could just set up data centers in other countries. (Let's note that given the ongoing rapid US retreat from numerous countries, a power vacuum is being created and that China is wasting no time moving into it. "We took over your vaccine program when the Americans abandoned you, how about letting us set up a data center?" and similar approaches are going to work.)
Re: How...EXACTLY...does he propose that this work (Score:2)
He's a politician, a Big Ideas man. He leaves the technical trivialities for others to figure out. Plus it doesnt matter if it could never actually work, it looks like hes got his finger on the pulse to other idiots.
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Also considering the cost of these chips even at every stage of production the packaging and shipments are likely already GPS tracked and have full logistics through their manufacture.
Once they go to distribution or out of NVIDIA's hands that's where the fuckery can step in.
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From the article.
"The technology for verifying the location of chips would rely on the chips communicating with a secured computer server that would use the length of time it takes for the signal to reach the server to verify where chips are, a concept that relies on knowing that computer signals move at the speed of light.""
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Text of the bill [senate.gov]: "The term 'chip security mechanism' means a software-, firmware-, or hardware-enabled security mechanism or a physical security mechanism.'" Oh, all righty then. That clears everything right up.
"Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall require any covered integrated circuit product to be outfitt
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how are these chips supposed to report their location? Is he proposing embedded radio transmitters? Chip makers will love accommodating that too, especially since it's readily defeated by a Faraday cage.
It won't even work. The radio transmission won't get far without an external antenna. A chip can't receive GPS signals either, not without an external GPS antenna. The first thing you do when you get your shiny new AI card is you install it in a server chassis - which is generally steel or aluminum and
Daft Idea! (Score:2)
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They're not highly modified. They basically just leave the connectors off them.
remote datacenter (Score:3)
Remote Datacenter, problem solved.
This is idiotic (Score:2)
In addition about how technically unfeasible this is for various reasons mentioned above: by now we have learned how evolution works. They limited advanced chips and DeepSeek come with advanced methods. They tried to limit Huawei and it is stronger than even. You limit the chips and Chinese will learn how to make good enough replacements. And in 10 years their replacements will be competitive, while if you just let them buy the chips they would remain dependent on your tech.
Deep Seek doesn't require AI chips (Score:3)
Moronic Congress critter just doesn't understand that China can produce A.I. results without A.I. integrated circuits.
I have a theory (Score:2)
This has got to be some kind of false flag, right? All of this news coverage of "AI" and how it's the next Messiah and such, when we all know that it's not "AI" and absolute bullshit. Are we trying to convince hostile countries to invest heavily in this crap in hopes it ruins their economy? The tech bros are certainly ruining ours with all this bullshit hype. The implosion is near, take cover people.
It's not totally insane but wouldn't work (Score:2)
I mean, you could very inexpensively integrate a GPS chip on there. You could put it into the firmware that the signal has a private key that encrypts said signal. It would likely get hacked eventually but by then probably not be export limited. So from a hardware perspective this isn't impossible.
So it's not impossible. But it wouldn't work because a Server GPU, inside of a rack at the bottom wouldn't get signal. You could maybe... maybe... build a big enough antenna into every GPU that it would at leas
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integrate a GPS chip on there. You could put it into the firmware that the signal has a private key that encrypts said signal.
Digitally signing the GPS signal is impossible, because the chipmakers don't own the satellites that provide the GPS system.
Also, the PRC would simply plant a covert receiver somewhere and record/surveil all the signals received on a specified frequency over a period of time. Then transmit the recording over a VPN tunnel to their remote site and replay the recorded signals local
Politicians fail at understanding technology (Score:2)
If the tracking isn't in the chip itself, it can be removed by ditching the packaging.
If it is in the chip, that makes things even more screwy. First it will need a completely new design of the chip, you can't just slap something like that into pre-existing microcircuitry and expect things to remain the same. It introduces changes to power, EM sources, and heat.
Then there's the issues if it's a passive item like the RF tags a lot of stores use, that on
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IIUC, the plan is that if the chip doesn't receive the appropriate acknowledgement from a remote server it will "refuse to boot". Like many games.
It's doable, but I can't imagine anyone buying it. (Well, I've got a weak imagination in some directions.) This seems pretty much a guarantee to put the vendor out of the business. Even within the US one probably couldn't rely on getting acknowledgement to proceed. (And it would require not only the chip to be designed, but also the motherboard would need to
Or other unauthorized use (Score:2)
There goes your AI hentai. Sorry guys.
Dumbest idea I've heard (Score:2)
Didn't they remove restrictions on AI chip export? (Score:1)
Why did they do this [reuters.com] if they were so concerned about exporting AI chips?
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Maybe this is part of the "replace".