Nvidia Hardware Shipment Worth $11.4 Million Vanishes
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
A massive theft between Oakland and Texas highlights a growing trend of sophisticated heists targeting high-value chip shipments.
A shipment of Nvidia hardware valued at $11.4 million disappeared during transit from Oakland to Fort Worth, Texas, as Ars Technica first reported. Six pallets of equipment were picked up on August 29 by a truck featuring a food transportation company's logo, but the theft was not discovered until early September when buyers reported the shipment missing.
Oakland police confirmed a grand theft report was filed on September 13. Investigators attempting to track the vehicle found it made several multi-hour stops before disappearing in San Bernardino County, California. As of November 6, no arrests have been made and the cargo has not been recovered.
This incident is part of a broader surge in hardware thefts. Ars Technica reports that more than $100 million in similar shipments have been stolen since June. NBC News reports that criminals are utilizing sophisticated methods, including GPS location spoofing and staged collisions with police escort vehicles, to facilitate these heists. Stolen hardware is often sold overseas or through gray-market transactions.
Nvidia has been a primary target for these operations. In 2025, police investigated burglaries of Nvidia hardware worth over $7.5 million in Union City and Fremont, California. Olaf Groth, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, told ABC News that high profit margins for individual chips are likely incentivizing the professionalization of these hijacking teams.