Nvidia requires Southeast Asia cloud partners to enroll in GPU tracking system

What's changing?

Nvidia is requiring cloud providers in Southeast Asia to enroll in its Fleet Intelligence tracking system if they want to become official Nvidia Cloud Partners (NCPs). According to Bloomberg, the move is intended to give the chipmaker another way to monitor where its AI accelerators are deployed.

Why now?

Washington is growing increasingly frustrated that restricted hardware is finding its way into China through regional smuggling networks. The U.S. bars Chinese companies from buying advanced AI accelerators without a license, yet authorities believe billions of dollars worth of hardware has reached Chinese buyers through third-party networks, with Southeast Asia serving as an important transit point.

What is Fleet Intelligence?

Introduced last December primarily as a data center management tool, the system gathers information about Nvidia hardware deployed across participating companies' infrastructure, including the locations of individual accelerators. That could give Nvidia a clearer picture of whether its chips are operating after they leave the supply chain.

Participation remains voluntary outside the NCP requirement, and Nvidia does not automatically receive location data from every customer using the software. The company has not clarified whether existing Cloud Partners will have to enroll to retain their designation or whether the requirement will eventually extend beyond Southeast Asia.

Investigations and controversy

A previous C4ADS investigation identified routes used to move restricted processors into China, including purchases through research initiatives, shell companies and shipments routed through other Southeast Asian countries. Its report linked $13.4 million worth of Nvidia A100, H100 and AD102-series GPUs moving through regional trade routes between 2022 and 2025, and tied $4.6 billion in hardware purchases to Singapore-based Megaspeed International. Megaspeed has denied any wrongdoing.