What was found
Israeli security firm Lava says it identified 32 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 chips inside the network of China Telecom, a state-owned Chinese telecommunications provider. The chips are barred from export to China under U.S. export controls.
How they were spotted
Lava found the chips through Nvidia's own DCGM Exporter tool, software that data center operators install to monitor server health and performance. It can sometimes be reached from outside a data center's network and does not always require password authentication. It is unclear exactly where within China Telecom's network the chips sit.
Nvidia's response
Nvidia did not deny the finding. A spokesperson argued that only a tiny fraction of controlled U.S. products is diverted, calling it "a drop in the bucket" compared with China's domestic compute, and said tens of millions of GPUs are in service in approved countries.
Why it matters
The B300, announced in March 2025, is a data center GPU with 50% more memory and FP4 compute than the previous-generation B200. Chinese firms have strong appetite for such silicon: in 2025 it was reported that $1 billion worth of Nvidia AI chips was smuggled into the country in three months. In August 2026, nine people were indicted in Taiwan over illegal B300 exports, and Supermicro fired several employees after an investigation.
