Nvidia has become entangled in a fierce economic and technological competition between Beijing and Washington this year, with Chinese access to its advanced "H20" semiconductors playing a key role.

The California-based firm said earlier this month that it would resume sales of the H20 to China after Washington pledged to remove licensing restrictions that had halted exports.

But American concerns seemingly linger -- lawmakers have proposed plans to require Nvidia and other manufacturers of advanced AI chips to include built-in location tracking capabilities.

Beijing's top internet regulator said Thursday that it had summoned Nvidia representatives to discuss recently discovered "serious security issues" involving the H20.

The company developed the chip -- a less powerful version of its AI processing units -- specifically for export to China.

The Cyberspace Administration of China asked Nvidia to "explain the security risks of vulnerabilities and backdoors in its H20 chips sold to China and submit relevant supporting materials", the statement published on social media said.

It noted that, according to US experts, location tracking and remote shutdown technologies for Nvidia chips "are already matured".