Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 GPUs Surface in China Telecom's Network

Thirty-two high-performance Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 chips have been detected inside the infrastructure of China Telecom, a state-owned telecommunications giant, despite strict U.S. export restrictions that prohibit their sale to the country.

The discovery, made by Israeli security firm Lava, highlights the persistent difficulty of enforcing trade controls on advanced semiconductor hardware. According to reports from The Information, the B300 series has already been barred from export, meaning these units should only be accessible to whitelisted buyers who contractually agree not to sell to sanctioned parties. Yet, here they are, embedded in a Chinese data center, raising immediate questions about the integrity of the supply chain and the efficacy of current oversight mechanisms.

This incident is not an isolated anomaly but part of a broader pattern of leakage. In 2025, it was reported that Chinese entities smuggled approximately $1 billion worth of Nvidia AI chips into the country over a three-month period. While the B200 model was the primary target at that time, distributors were already positioning themselves to move B300-series units as soon as they became available, suggesting a well-prepared pipeline for the next generation of hardware.

Lava’s team located the specific chips using Nvidia’s own DCGM Exporter tool, a software utility designed for data center operators to monitor server health and performance. Although intended for internal use, this tool can often be accessed from outside the data center’s network and frequently does not require password authentication, creating a potential security blind spot. It remains unclear exactly how the chips entered China Telecom’s server racks or their precise location within the company’s vast network, but their presence is confirmed. Nvidia has acknowledged it is developing a dedicated tool to help locate its chips, but this solution has yet to be released.

Nvidia has responded to the findings with characteristic restraint, downplaying the significance of the leak without denying the facts. A spokesperson told Tom's Hardware that the diversion of controlled U.S. products is "a drop in the bucket compared to the ocean of domestic compute China already has." The company cited recent court cases where the diverted amount was less than 0.5% of the total, arguing that with tens of millions of GPUs in service in approved countries, smuggling remains a non-factor that is effectively blocked by governments on both sides of the globe.

The motivation for such aggressive acquisition strategies is clear given the power of the B300. Announced in March of last year, this data center GPU offers massive performance improvements, including 50% more memory and FP4 compute capabilities than its predecessor, the B200. Nvidia marketed the chip as "built for the age of reasoning," specifically referencing sophisticated AI models like DeepSeek R1. Originally expected to ship by the end of 2025, the B300 quickly became a high-value commodity in the global market.

The stakes of these leaks are high, as evidenced by recent legal actions in the region. In August 2026, nine individuals in Taiwan were indicted for the illegal export of B300 GPUs to China. This followed an investigation by Supermicro, which confirmed it had fired several employees involved in the smuggling scheme. The process involved a Taiwanese server trading firm, Flying Tiget Tech, which held whitelisted status for purchasing GPUs, demonstrating how legitimate channels can be exploited to move restricted hardware.

The demand for Nvidia’s silicon has reached such extremes that even older generations are seeing price surges. A100 servers, now five years old, have tripled in price, reaching up to $82,000 per unit. This scarcity has also led some operators to retool gaming GPUs for AI workloads. As the B300 continues to circulate in unauthorized markets, the tension between export policy and commercial reality remains a central issue in the global AI race.