Even thieves aren't getting a good deal on expensive NVIDIA hardware. In what may be one of the most disappointing heists in recent memory, thieves in California stole two Nvidia-branded trailers expecting to find stacks of AI GPUs, only to discover that their robbery was about to become a worldwide joke. Instead of silicon, they got silica. Twenty tons of sand, to be exact.
The two trailers bore both the NVIDIA and PlusAI logos, the latter being an autonomous trucking startup working with NVIDIA to test self-driving technology. The thieves likely spotted the branding and assumed an Nvidia-branded vehicle meant an Nvidia-adjacent payday. What they did not know is that PlusAI packs its semi-trailers with 20,000 pounds of sand each to simulate real cargo loads and test how a fully loaded truck responds to various road conditions. The actual truck cabs, which would have contained the valuable self-driving hardware, were parked safely inside the warehouse. The trailers were left outside secured with hand locks.
PlusAI learned the trailers were missing only after an executive received a text from a friend who recognized the vehicles parked near their Newark, California workplace, about half a mile from PlusAI's warehouse. Police were called, and both trailers were recovered with all 40,000 pounds of sand intact. It appears the thieves broke open the doors, discovered their payload, and simply walked away. At the time of writing this, no arrests have been made.
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The story adds another angle to what has followed the AI boom and the resulting surge in data center hardware prices, which has made technology an increasingly attractive target for thieves and smugglers. And it's not just expensive AI hardware that has caught their attention. Consumer gaming GPUs like the RTX 5090 have also become a favourite item on smugglers' and AI data centers' menu.
