According to two people familiar with the matter, the US authorities have been in particular on the secretly secured positioning tracking device in the delivery of advanced chips they believe are illegally transferred to China.
Reuters reported that the two sources pointed out that the purpose of these practices is to investigate the transfer of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to areas where export restrictions in the United States are only applicable to specific goods being investigated.
These serve to highlight the extent of US chip export restrictions on China, even if the Trump administration has tried to broaden China's partial control of the U.S. advanced semiconductors.
Sources who are not willing to name due to the sensitivity of the matter said that these trackers help to bring complaints to individuals and companies who have benefited from violating U.S. export controls.
Positioning Tracker is a survey tool that has been used for decades when the US law agency tracks export-controlled products such as aircraft parts. A source said that positioning trackers have also been used to combat illegal transfers of semiconductors in recent years.
Five more people actively involved in the AI server supply chain said they knew that server shipments from manufacturers such as Dell and Super Micro using NVIDIA and Ultramicro chips were installed.
These people said tracking devices are usually hidden in the packages shipped by the server, but they don't know which units are installed or which ring in the delivery route.
Reuters cannot confirm the frequency of the US authorities using trackers in chip-related surveys, nor when to start using trackers to investigate chip smuggling. The United States will begin to restrict NVIDIA, Ultramicro and other manufacturers from selling advanced chips to China in 2022.