Dec 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Commerce has

recently asked Nvidia ( NVDA ) to look into how the company's

products ended up in China over the past year, The Information

reported on Thursday, citing a person close to the department.

The chip giant has asked big distributors such as Super

Micro Computer ( SMCI ) and Dell Technologies ( DELL ) to

conduct spot checks of their customers in Southeast Asia, the

report said. Nvidia's ( NVDA ) artificial intelligence chips are embedded

in server products made by Super Micro and Dell.

The Information reported that five different people involved

in smuggling Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips said they have managed so far to evade

detection during recent inspections by Super Micro.

Some of the customers duplicated serial numbers of the

servers containing Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips that they purchased from Super

Micro and attached them to other servers that they had access

to, the report said citing a person close to Super Micro.

In some cases, smugglers even altered the serial numbers in

the operating system for the servers, the report said.

"We insist that our customers and partners strictly adhere

to all export control restrictions. Any unauthorized deviation

of previously-owned products, including any grey market resales,

would be a burden on our business, not a benefit," an Nvidia ( NVDA )

spokesperson said.

Super Micro, Dell and the commerce department did not

immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

The Joe Biden administration has doubled down on its chip

crackdown in China. The U.S. broadened a ban on the sale of

high-end AI chips to the country last year.

Still, several Chinese universities and research institutes

procured these Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips via resellers, a Reuters review of

tender documents showed earlier in 2024.

Earlier this month, the U.S. curbed semiconductor exports to

140 companies, including chip equipment makers.