Nvidia now requires cloud providers in Southeast Asia that want its Nvidia Cloud Partner designation to enroll in its fleet intelligence tracking system, according to people familiar with the new requirements. The system records the physical location of individual AI accelerators inside a data center, giving Nvidia a view of where its chips end up in a region U.S. officials treat as a key transit point for hardware headed to China.
Nvidia Cloud Partner status carries real weight. Companies that hold it get Nvidia's public endorsement and priority access to its most sought-after chips, which gives Nvidia leverage to make enrollment a condition of the badge. The requirement applies to Southeast Asian customers seeking the designation.
Nvidia introduced the tracking software last December, primarily as a data center management tool. The company has described it as "a customer-installed agent for monitoring hardware health, integrity and inventory," and it works using GPU telemetry and network latency measurements. Outside the partner requirement, participation stays voluntary, and the system does not automatically share location data with Nvidia or the U.S. government.
Key facts
- 01Nvidia requires Southeast Asian cloud providers seeking Nvidia Cloud Partner status to enroll in its fleet intelligence tracking system.
- 02The software, introduced last December, records the physical location of individual accelerators inside a data center.
- 03Nvidia has not said whether existing partners must enroll or whether the rule will extend beyond Southeast Asia.
- 04A C4ADS report linked $4.6 billion in hardware purchases to Singapore-based Megaspeed, which denies wrongdoing.
- 05Nvidia has told cloud providers to keep at least 51% of computing services with customers outside China.
Several details remain open. Nvidia has not said whether existing Cloud Partners must enroll to keep their status, or whether the requirement will extend beyond Southeast Asia. The company was not immediately available for comment.
The mandate lands against a backdrop of export enforcement. The U.S. restricts Chinese companies from buying advanced AI accelerators without a license, and U.S. authorities believe billions of dollars' worth of that hardware has reached Chinese buyers through third-party networks in Southeast Asia. In March, authorities arrested Super Micro Computer co-founder Wally Liaw on charges of plotting to smuggle $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia GPU servers into China, and federal prosecutors have also unsealed a $300 million smuggling indictment against Earthmade Computer Inc.
Singapore-based Megaspeed International, which won Nvidia Cloud Partner status within a week of its founding in 2023, has been under U.S. and Singaporean investigation for more than a year over suspected chip diversion. Megaspeed has denied any wrongdoing. A report from the nonprofit C4ADS, which examined transactions from 2022 to 2025, linked $4.6 billion in hardware purchases to the company. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang defended Nvidia's dealings with Megaspeed last week as "completely normal."
“we've studied all their deployments of our GPUs and counted every one.”— Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO
In April, Megaspeed's Malaysian data center landlord terminated its contract and reallocated 68.4 megawatts of capacity to another cloud provider. Key House Republicans asked Huang for a formal briefing this week.
The tracking mandate is the latest in a series of distribution controls at Nvidia. Earlier this year the company removed half of the Asian firms from its pre-approved buyer list, and it has told cloud providers to keep at least 51% of their computing services with customers outside China. An Nvidia spokesperson defended that cap, citing longstanding U.S. policy that encourages cloud providers to build on American infrastructure.
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