U.S. authorities have been placing trackers on select shipments of AI chip semiconductors in order to see if they are being diverted to China. These trackers have been found in shipments of Nvidia and AMD chips contained in servers manufactured by Dell and Super Micro, according to Reuters.
Sources have claimed that the trackers are usually hidden in the packaging of the server shipments. While they don’t know who placed those chips, and in what stage of the process, these sources speculate that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) was likely responsible, with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) or the FBI also potentially involved.
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While it is not known when the U.S. authorities started tracking semiconductor shipments, or how often trackers have been used, two of Reuters’ sources have said a shipment of Dell servers containing Nvidia chips had large trackers attached to the box, and smaller trackers hidden inside the packaging and servers were found in 2024.
Five other people actively involved in the AI server supply chain say they are aware of the use of the trackers in shipments of servers from manufacturers such as Dell and Super Micro, which include chips from Nvidia and AMD. Super Micro said it would not disclose its security practices when asked about this, and Dell said it is “not aware of a U.S. Government initiative to place trackers in its product shipments.”
The U.S. government has placed restrictions on the export of cutting-edge AI chips to China in 2022, and this development shows the length to which authorities are willing to go to enforce these restrictions, even as the Trump administration has sought to relax some curbs on Chinese access to advanced American semiconductors. These trackers can help build cases against people and companies who profit from violating U.S. export controls.
This development comes at a time when companies are in a heated race over the advancement of AI, and when China is seen as a threat to America’s position in the AI race. In January, Reuters reported the U.S. had traced organized AI chip smuggling to China via countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, and the UAE.
Chinese authorities recently urged local companies to avoid using Nvidia’s H20 chips, particularly for government-related purposes. “China has ample supply of domestic chips to meet its needs. It won’t and never has relied on American chips for government operations, just like the U.S. government would not rely on chips from China,” their statement said, highlighting the growing rivalry between the nations around AI chips.