Reuters reporting today that US authorities have been placing secret trackers into shipments of advanced semiconductors in an attempt to find chips that are being diverted into China. Christina Partzilla is digging into that story for today's tech check. And Christina, this is this is interesting.Wonder how effective that is. Yeah, it's a good point. Well, US authorities, like you said, just they may be tracking devices on shipments of advanced AI chips, but industry sources tell me we shouldn't expect to s ...

Semiconductor Industry & Geopolitical Concerns - US authorities are reportedly placing secret trackers in shipments of advanced semiconductors to detect diversion to China [1] - The trackers range from small devices to smartphone-sized units, hidden in server packaging [2] - Export enforcement agents may act with administrative approval, potentially without a court order, to place these trackers [3] - Nvidia denies embedding backdoors in their chips, addressing concerns raised by the Chinese government [4] - US Treasury Secretary assured investors that there are no national security concerns with Nvidia chips [5] Illegal Export & Black Market - Two Chinese nationals were arrested for illegally exporting millions of US dollars worth of Nvidia chips to China [5] - A thriving black market in China for Nvidia products is estimated at 1 billion US dollars [6] - The tracking initiative highlights the difficulty in monitoring the global semiconductor supply chain, especially after chips leave factories in locations like Taiwan [7] Company Awareness & Response - Companies like Dell and Super Micro, which ship servers containing Nvidia chips, would likely need to be aware of the tracking, but did not respond to requests for comment [3] - Monitoring individual chips is far more complex than tracking entire server shipments, requiring embedded software [3][4] - Nvidia CEO denies diversion is happening [6]

China vowed “zero tolerance” on strategic mineral smuggling, pledging tighter enforcement and faster export approvals. Amid global supply concerns, authorities were urged to blacklist violators https://t.co/tGOwuoLSiu ...

中国国家出口管制工作协调机制办公室在广西南宁召开打击战略矿产走私出口专项行动推进会，要求坚决防止绕道出口，严防相关物项被非法用于军事用户或军事用途。 https://t.co/YdvUw7tzvH ...

Crime & Law Enforcement - A mother was imprisoned for exploiting her children to traffic cocaine [1]

Legal & Ethical Concerns - A woman smuggled a baby into the UK using a fabricated birth story [1]

Prices for cocoa on the global market have nearly tripled since 2023, but farmers in Ivory Coast have found it hard to cash in. The cocoa trade in the country is controlled by government-run regulator Conseil du Café-Cacao, which sets prices. The current price is about a third of the global market price, which has created a powerful incentive to smuggle crops into neighboring countries that don’t have the same central pricing. Bloomberg's Ondiro Oganga reports. -------- More on Bloomberg Television and Mark ...