Lava Finds 32 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 Chips in China Telecom Network

Lava, an Israeli security firm, says it identified 32 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 chips within the network of China Telecom, a state-owned telecommunications services provider in China. The chips are barred from export by U.S. export controls, according to a report by The Information. The finding raises questions about how export-controlled data center GPUs have appeared in a Chinese network.

Export controls and reported smuggling

Nvidia's high-performance GPUs and AI data center chips can only be sold to whitelisted buyers who agree not to export them to sanctioned parties, including those in China. The report notes that banning companies from buying these chips has not always worked. In 2025, it was reported that Chinese companies smuggled $1 billion worth of Nvidia AI chips into the country in three months. At that time, B200 chips were the most sought-after, but some distributors were already preparing to sell B300-series chips when they became available.

Nvidia response

Nvidia downplayed the report but did not deny the findings. An Nvidia spokesperson told Tom's Hardware that governments, researchers, and media have found insignificant diversion of controlled U.S. products, less than one half of one percent in recent court cases, which the spokesperson described as a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of domestic compute China already has. The spokesperson added that with tens of millions of GPUs in service in approved countries, the report again demonstrates that smuggling is a nonfactor, blocked by governments on both sides of the globe.

How the chips were identified

It is unknown how B300 chips found their way into China Telecom's server racks, and Lava cannot confirm exactly where within the company's network they are located. Lava identified them using Nvidia's own DCGM Exporter tool. The software can be installed by data center operators and is used to monitor server health and performance. Although it is designed for internal use, it can often be accessed beyond the data center's network. The report also notes that it does not always require password authentication. Nvidia previously confirmed it was working on a tool that would allow its chips to be located, but that tool is yet to be released.

Why B300 chips are in demand

The Blackwell Ultra B300 is a data center GPU that was announced in March of last year. It is described as one of the most powerful on the planet, offering huge performance gains with 50% more memory and FP4 compute than the previous-generation B200. Nvidia touted that the chip was built for the age of reasoning, while name-checking more sophisticated AI LLMs like DeepSeek R1. At the time of its announcement, the B300 was expected to ship by the end of 2025, and it did not take long for it to become hot property.

In August 2026, nine people were indicted in Taiwan over the illegal export of B300 GPUs to China. This came just days after Supermicro confirmed that it had fired several employees following an investigation into smuggling. The complicated smuggling process included the use of a Taiwanese server trading firm called Flying Tiget Tech, a firm with whitelisted status for GPU purchases.

Nvidia's chips have proven vital to AI data centers, and demand for even its older silicon has caused skyrocketing prices. The company's A100 servers have tripled in price despite being five years old. The ongoing crackdown on Nvidia chip smuggling has even seen some resort to retooling gaming GPUs to run AI workloads where possible.

Sources: Tom's Hardware