US authorities allegedly secretly build location trackers into AI servers
There may have been something to China's suspicions after all: According to a media report, trackers are said to have been retrofitted in AI servers.
Manufacturers are not allowed to sell server boards like this one to China.
(Image: AMD)
US authorities are allegedly already tracking the locations of some servers that are suitable for AI training. Based on anonymous sources, the news agency Reuters reports that the authorities are intervening in the supply chain and secretly installing trackers.
They are said to be used in some servers that contain fast AI accelerators and cannot be delivered to China due to export restrictions. According to Reuters' sources, trackers end up in at least Dell and Supermicro servers with accelerators from both Nvidia and AMD.
Allegedly, different tracker variants are used on the packaging, in them and even placed in the servers themselves. It is unknown since when the deliveries have been tracked and exactly which authority places them at what point in the supply chain. Cases are said to have been known since at least 2024. In Asia, resellers are supposed to remove the trackers before the hardware continues its journey.
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Imported to China
The US government wants to cut China off from the fastest current AI accelerators. However, it is an open secret that the gray and black market is flourishing. Current hardware will continue to reach Chinese hyperscalers, including AI-compatible graphics cards such as the GeForce RTX 5090.
In the USA, there are plans to force AMD, Nvidia and other manufacturers to track all AI accelerators. This is currently still a draft law that has not yet been passed.
In July, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) accused Nvidia of having such capabilities and integrated kill switches. Nvidia's head of security David Reber Jr. recently refuted the accusations.
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