32 Banned Nvidia Chips Power Key Part of China’s Telecom Network

An Israeli security firm has found 32 export-restricted Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 chips in China Telecom’s network, a state-owned telecommunications company. This raises questions about how these chips, which are banned from China under U.S. export rules, ended up in the country. The chips were discovered using Nvidia’s own DCGM Exporter software, which is used to monitor server health and performance. The software can often be accessed from outside the network and does not always require a password. The appeal of the B300 is clear: it offers 50% more memory and FP4 compute than the earlier B200, and was built for the age of reasoning. Demand for Nvidia silicon is also lifting prices across the market, including for older products.

The 32 B300 chips were found in the network of China Telecom, the state-owned provider of telecommunications services in China. The finding, which was reported by The Information, raises questions about how hardware that U.S. export controls bar from the country ended up in a Chinese data center. The chips were discovered using Nvidia’s own DCGM Exporter software, which is used to monitor server health and performance. The software can often be accessed from outside the network and does not always require a password.

Under the current rules, chips of this class can be sold only to whitelisted buyers, who must agree not to pass them on to sanctioned parties, including those in China. Enforcing such limits has proved difficult. A 2025 report said Chinese companies had smuggled in $1 billion worth of Nvidia AI chips over three months. B200 processors were the most sought-after at that point, though some distributors were already preparing to handle B300-series parts once they became available.

Nvidia did not dispute Lava's findings but played down their significance. A spokesperson told Tom's Hardware that governments, researchers and media have found