First disclosure! The U.S. is indeed making secret moves: AI chips are secretly equipped with trackers during shipment

According to Reuters on August 13, two sources disclosed for the first time that the U.S. government has secretly installed trackers in artificial intelligence (AI) chips and other goods exported by the United States to detect whether these goods are being transported to destinations restricted by U.S. export controls. The sources said this move is aimed at China, and the trackers help the Trump administration to file cases against those who violate export controls.

In recent years, the United States has continuously expanded export controls on devices such as chips, attempting to suppress China's technological development. The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce previously stated that the U.S. has abused export controls, suppressing and containing China, violating international law and the basic principles of international relations, seriously harming the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises, and endangering China's development interests. China firmly opposes this and will take resolute measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.

The report states that the trackers are a long-used investigative tool by U.S. law enforcement agencies, previously used to track products subject to export restrictions such as aircraft components. A source said that in recent years, the U.S. has begun using trackers to combat the "illegal transportation" of semiconductors.

Five other individuals involved in the AI server supply chain said they learned that servers shipped by manufacturers such as Dell and Supermicro had trackers installed, and these servers contained chips from NVIDIA and AMD. The sources said that trackers are usually hidden in the packaging of server shipments, but it is unclear who was involved in the installation or at which stage of the shipping route the installation took place.

Two of the informed sources mentioned that in 2024, a batch of Dell server shipments equipped with NVIDIA chips had large trackers installed on the packaging boxes, as well as smaller and more discreet tracking devices inside the packaging and even inside the servers themselves. Another source said they had seen photos and videos of chip dealers removing trackers, with some large trackers being about the size of a smartphone.

The informed sources also said that U.S. export enforcement officers sometimes install trackers after obtaining administrative approval, and at other times apply to a judge for authorization to use trackers. With these authorizations, law enforcement officials can more easily use the information collected by the trackers as evidence in criminal cases.

They added that if a company is not the subject of an investigation, it may be informed of the information about the trackers and may agree to the U.S. government installing the trackers. However, the U.S. government can also install trackers without the knowledge of the company.

According to these people, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, responsible for export control and enforcement, is involved in such actions, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) may also be involved. Regarding this report, both the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the FBI declined to comment, and the U.S. Department of Commerce did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

Supermicro stated in a statement that it would not disclose "the security operations and policies we have developed to protect our global business, partners, and customers," and refused to comment on any tracking actions by the U.S. government. Dell said that the company "was unaware of the U.S. government's initiative to place trackers in its product shipments." NVIDIA declined to comment, and AMD did not respond.

The report says it is unclear how frequently the U.S. uses trackers in chip-related investigations, nor is it clear when the U.S. government began using trackers for investigations. The U.S. started restricting NVIDIA and AMD manufacturers from selling advanced chips to China in 2022.

Reuters pointed out that the act of secretly installing trackers indicates that the U.S. government is striving to restrict the export of advanced chips to China. In recent years, the U.S. has continuously expanded export controls on chips to China, trying to suppress China's technological development. The White House and both houses of Congress are proposing to require U.S. chip companies to incorporate location verification technology into their chips to prevent these advanced chips from being sent to countries restricted by U.S. export regulations.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840344772557955/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.