A shipment of Nvidia hardware, comprising six pallets valued at $11.4 million, disappeared while en route from Oakland, California, to Fort Worth, Texas, in late August. The cargo was picked up on August 29 by a truck displaying the logo of a food transportation company, according to court records and media reports. Investigators subsequently lost track of the vehicle and its drivers in San Bernardino County, California, after it made several multi-hour stops.
The buyers of the hardware reportedly did not realize the shipment was missing until early September. The Oakland Police Department received a formal report of the grand theft on September 13, creating a window of more than two weeks during which the stolen goods could have been moved. As of early November, police have not announced any arrests or the recovery of the missing hardware.
The specific type of Nvidia hardware on the pallets has not been publicly disclosed by authorities. However, experts suggest that such high-value shipments likely contain in-demand components like AI accelerators or complete computing systems. Olaf Groth, a professor at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, told ABC7 News that Nvidia chips can command nearly double their United States price when sold abroad, with some compute systems valued at $550,000 in the U.S. potentially fetching over $1 million overseas.
This incident is not isolated. In 2025, police in Fremont and Union City, California, investigated multiple burglaries targeting Nvidia cargo, with combined losses exceeding $7.5 million. In September of this year, two pallets of Zotac RTX 5090 graphics cards, valued at approximately $470,000, also disappeared from São Paulo's airport in Brazil. One of those cards later appeared for sale online.
The increasing value and demand for high-end computing hardware, particularly AI chips, have made such shipments attractive targets for organized theft. Groth noted that these heists are becoming more complex, suggesting the involvement of professional criminal organizations. The professor also emphasized that these chips represent a national security asset, raising concerns that they could be trafficked to adversary nations.
The ongoing investigation by the Oakland Police Department seeks to determine the perpetrators and recover the stolen Nvidia hardware. The incident highlights the logistical and security challenges faced by technology companies in transporting valuable equipment across long distances.