Lava finds 32 banned Nvidia B300 chips on China Telecom network
The Israeli security firm traced the GPUs through an unprotected Nvidia DCGM Exporter tool, according to The Information.
Security firm Lava found 32 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 GPUs connected to China Telecom's network through an exposed monitoring system, The Information reported on October 22. The B300 is a high-performance data center GPU that Nvidia is barred from selling to China.
According to the report, Lava obtained the information from Nvidia's open-source DCGM Exporter tool, which was left exposed online without a password. Lava said it could not determine where the chips are physically located or how they were connected to China Telecom's network.
China Telecom did not respond to a request for comment, The Information reported.
Nvidia said the number of GPUs found is very small compared with the tens of millions in use in approved countries, and that government crackdowns are curbing smuggling.
Earlier reports
In July 2025, the Financial Times reported that at least $1 billion worth of advanced Nvidia AI chips, including Blackwell B200 servers, reached China in three months after the US tightened export controls. In February 2026, Reuters cited a senior US official saying that DeepSeek trained its AI models on banned Blackwell chips, possibly at a data center in Inner Mongolia.
Quick answers
What did Lava find on China Telecom's network?
Lava found 32 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra B300 GPUs connected to China Telecom's network via an exposed monitoring system, according to The Information.
How did Lava locate the GPUs?
The firm used Nvidia's open-source DCGM Exporter tool, which was exposed online without a password.
Can Nvidia sell the B300 to China?
No. The B300 is a high-performance data center GPU that Nvidia is banned from selling to China.