When the Chip Security Act was introduced in May 2025, legislators asserted that the required tracking technology was already available, though Nvidia had not publicly confirmed this. In March 2026, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), a member organization that includes Nvidia, publicly opposed the legislation, describing its chip‑tracking requirements as “new, untested, and potentially infeasible.”
Privately, however, Nvidia representatives working with Representative Foster told the lawmaker that the company could implement the required tracking measures.
“They never put anything in writing,” Foster remarks, recalling that during technical discussions on the feasibility of such safeguards, Nvidia’s response was “yeah, of course we can do this.” This private acknowledgement is more definitive than any prior public statement from the company.
Other technologies Nvidia offers to its customers indicate that the company possesses the capability to provide precise location tracking for its chips. In December 2025, Nvidia introduced Fleet Intelligence, a platform that enables customers to monitor the performance of advanced chips across multiple data‑center sites. According to the company’s confirmation to Reuters, Fleet Intelligence can determine the country in which chips reside, though Nvidia has not detailed whether this functionality can be repurposed for anti‑smuggling efforts.
Nvidia has not responded to requests for comment or confirmation of Foster’s characterization.
In early October, as legislative concern about Nvidia’s potential involvement in chip smuggling grew, MIT Technology Review queried the company regarding Fleet Intelligence’s applicability to thwart such activities. Nvidia chose not to provide a direct answer, issuing a statement that “Governments and media have found insignificant diversion of controlled US products—a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of domestic compute China already has.”
Recent investigations linked to Nvidia include several individuals and entities accused of chip smuggling. Alice Huang, reportedly involved in a personal relationship with Jensen Huang, leads Megaspeed, a Singapore‑based firm now under scrutiny for allegedly shipping advanced GPUs to China. A U.S. Commerce Department inquiry into Megaspeed was said to have been halted following Nvidia’s intervention. According to reports, Megaspeed sourced chips from Supermicro, a supplier that integrates Nvidia’s GPUs into server platforms.
The proposed Chip Security Act would mandate a system for tracking chip locations, employing one or more of the following methods: physical inspections of facilities, corporate attestations, or ping‑based location mechanisms. The ping‑based approach, considered the most difficult to evade, would compel GPUs to broadcast their location whenever they become active. In a September study, the Center for Security and Emerging Technology determined that this method offers the most cost‑effective solution.