Lava reports 32 export-controlled Nvidia B300 GPUs detected on China Telecom network

Lava reports 32 B300 GPUs detected

Security firm Lava said it identified 32 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 data-center GPUs within the network of state-owned China Telecom. The company could not determine how the chips entered the network or pinpoint their physical locations. Lava detected them through Nvidia’s DCGM Exporter, a monitoring tool that can sometimes be accessed beyond a data center’s internal network and does not always require password authentication.

Export controls do not explain the discovery

The B300 chips are covered by U.S. export controls and may be sold only to authorized buyers that agree not to export them to sanctioned parties, including China. The reviewed reporting does not establish who purchased, transferred or installed the detected chips, nor does it describe any cash payment or other financial transaction.

Lava’s finding came amid other reported efforts to move controlled Nvidia GPUs into China. In 2025, reports said Chinese companies had smuggled $1 billion worth of Nvidia AI chips into the country over three months, primarily involving the preceding B200 generation.

Nvidia disputes the significance, not the detection

Nvidia did not deny Lava’s finding. A company spokesperson said governments, researchers and media had found that diversion represented less than 0.5% in recent court cases, calling it “a drop in the bucket” compared with China’s domestic computing capacity. The spokesperson also said smuggling was a nonfactor and was blocked by governments on both sides of the globe.

The statement concerns the scale of diversion and enforcement; the supplied reporting does not provide a company explanation for how the 32 detected B300 chips reached China Telecom.

Related enforcement remained under way

Nine people were indicted in Taiwan in August 2026 over alleged illegal exports of B300 GPUs to China, according to the reviewed reporting. Separately, Supermicro said it had dismissed several employees after an internal investigation into smuggling.

Those cases provide context for the reported B300 detection, but the evidence supplied does not establish a direct connection between either case and the chips Lava found on China Telecom’s network.

Tool-based location remains limited

Nvidia previously said it was working on a tool that could locate its chips, but that tool had not been released as of the reporting. Lava’s identification likewise did not reveal the chips’ exact locations within China Telecom’s infrastructure, limiting conclusions about where they were installed or how they were being used.