As everyone knows, graphics cards are now incredibly valuable, and the ongoing memory crisis has pushed prices to astronomical levels. Some thieves in the U.S. likely thought the same: they stole two trucks branded with the NVIDIA logo, expecting them to be filled with expensive GPUs. Instead, they found only sand.
According to Wired, thieves in Newark, California, stole two trucks last week bearing the logos of NVIDIA and PlusAI. However, instead of expensive hardware, each trailer was loaded with 20,000 pounds of sand. While filling trailers with sand might seem odd for a tech company, NVIDIA and PlusAI have been collaborating to test autonomous trucks, and these sand-filled trailers were used to simulate real-world loading conditions.
A PlusAI executive received a text message from a friend informing them that the sand had been stolen. The friend reported seeing several trucks parked outside their Newark office. PlusAI subsequently recovered the trailers and all the sand inside, indicating that the thieves had abandoned the vehicles and fled. No arrests have been made so far.
The most expensive part of the entire setup—the technology-equipped trucks themselves—were left unattended in a warehouse.
As the cost of AI hardware continues to rise to fuel data center expansion, such thefts are becoming increasingly rampant. The Q2 2026 Cargo Theft Risk Report released by Verisk CargoNet states: "Organized crime groups continue to target enterprise-grade computers and networking equipment, components, and cryptocurrency mining hardware. These goods can be worth millions of dollars, yet they are often transported through the supply chain as ordinary dry freight, creating a significant disparity between their economic value and their standard shipping and security conditions."
These theft incidents undoubtedly exacerbate the rising costs of hardware. Since early 2026, memory prices have continued to climb, particularly for NVIDIA graphics cards, which have seen substantial price increases this year. Furthermore, NVIDIA seems unlikely to release new graphics card models anytime soon.
