According to a particular, US authorities have secretly embedded location tracking devices in selected shipments of advanced chips and AI servers, in an attempt to catch illegal variations in China. Roots Report. The hidden devices are allegedly part of the targeted investigation into high -risk shipments, aims to identify chips terminated in countries under American export sanctions. Trackers, he said, has been used to create cases against individuals and companies on suspicion of breaking export laws.

The strategy, while rarely discussed in public, is nothing new. American agencies have used trekking devices for decades, from parts of the aircraft to semiconductors, for monitoring goods under export control. But his application in AI Chip Trade shows that the length of Washington is going to implement the ban on China, even political debate continues to exceed some curb.

Five people in the AI Server Supply Chain told the Reuters that they know about the trackers that manufacturers such as Dell and Super Micro are kept in shipments, who often have NVidia and AMD chips in the server. The devices are usually hidden in packaging – and in some cases, inside the server. In a 2024 case, a shipment allegedly included both large trackers smartphones and boxes and components included small, small, prudent equipment of embedded devices.

It is not clear how many times trackers are used or when they became part of semiconductor probes. In 2022, the US began to ban the sale of advanced chips from NVIDIA, AMD and others in China, and also curbed exports to Russia.

Many agencies may be involved in the practice, including the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Security and Security, Homeland Safety Checking and FBI. The FBI and HSI refused to comment, while the Department of Commerce did not respond.

Nominated manufacturers in the report denied participation. Dell said that it was “not known about the initiative of an US government to keep trackers in its product shipment”. NVIDIA said: “We do not install secret tracking equipment in our products.” Super Micro said it does not disclose its “safety practices and policies” and refused to comment on tracking. AMD did not respond to Reuters’ request for comments.

China’s Foreign Ministry said it was unaware of the matter. Beijing has previously criticized the US chip export controls as as an attempt to suppress its growth, and last month called Nvidia to address concerns over the potential “backdoor” in its products, the company denied.

Trackers have been a concern among the people involved in the chip diversion. China-based resettlements told Reuters that they inspect shipments to check hidden equipment. Recently, a suspected warning was given to carefully examine the Quanta server with Nvidia Chips for trackers in the case of an US justice department.