32 Blackwell Ultra B300 Chips Found in China Telecom's Network

Israeli cybersecurity firm Lava has disclosed the presence of 32 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 graphics processing units within the infrastructure of China Telecom, a state-owned telecommunications provider. The detection highlights the continued difficulty of enforcing U.S. export controls on high-performance AI hardware destined for the Chinese market.

The B300 chips are currently barred from export to China under recent American regulations. According to a report by The Information, these processors are restricted to a specific list of approved buyers who agree not to transfer them to sanctioned entities. The discovery within a major national network raises significant questions regarding how the components bypassed these logistical and regulatory hurdles.

Nvidia has publicly downplayed the significance of the finding, though it did not dispute Lava’s data. A company spokesperson stated that the diversion of controlled products has historically been a small fraction of total sales, describing it as a minor issue compared to the vast amount of domestic computing power already available in China. The representative noted that with tens of millions of units already deployed in approved regions, the instance of smuggling remains a non-factor in the broader market landscape.

The method of detection relied on Nvidia’s own DCGM Exporter tool, a utility used by data center operators to monitor server health and performance. While designed for internal management, this software can sometimes be accessed from outside the local network and frequently does not require password authentication. This vulnerability allowed Lava to pinpoint the chips, although the firm cannot yet confirm their exact physical location within China Telecom’s vast network.

The B300 series, announced in March 2025, represents a significant leap in capability, offering 50% more memory and fourth-generation floating-point performance than its predecessor, the B200. Nvidia marketed the chip as being built for advanced reasoning tasks in large language models. Its high demand has made it a frequent target for illicit trade, evidenced by a recent indictment in Taiwan of nine individuals involved in the illegal export of these GPUs to China.

The smuggling of such hardware has become an increasingly complex operation, involving whitelisted trading firms and the retooling of other components to meet AI workload requirements. The scarcity of new silicon has also driven up prices for older generations, with five-year-old A100 servers now commanding prices as high as $82,000. As the industry continues to grapple with supply chain security, the presence of these chips in a state-owned network underscores the ongoing tension between global tech access and export control enforcement.