China Telecom found smuggled NVIDIA B300 GPUs
Security researchers uncovered 32 top‑tier AI chips in a state‑owned Chinese telecom network, showing that U.S. export controls are not preventing smuggling.
24 Oct 2026 0 reads Compiled with AI
A security firm called Lava found 32 NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra B300 graphics cards inside China Telecom, a state‑owned telecommunications company. The find shows that the chips have been smuggled onto Chinese soil despite U.S. export rules.
Lava used NVIDIA’s Data Center GPU Manager (DCGM) Exporter tool to spot the cards. Data center operators use the tool for internal server health diagnostics, but it was accessible over the open internet without password protection, letting Lava identify the cards remotely. The exact data‑center location could not be determined, only that the cards were on China Telecom’s network.
The B300 is NVIDIA’s most powerful AI chip. It offers high memory capacity and bandwidth, making it a target for strict export controls that limit sales to vetted customers.
NVIDIA said diverted U.S. products make up less than 0.5 percent of its deployed inventory. The company called the smuggled chips ‘a drop in the bucket’ and said they are not a major concern.
What this means for China
China Telecom is a state‑owned network, so the smuggling could suggest other government‑backed sites might also hold the chips. Because the exact locations were not revealed, it is unclear how widespread the problem is. The incident shows that even with export bans, high‑end AI hardware can still find its way to Chinese data centers.