Cargo thefts targeting expensive equipment used to build AI data centres are occurring one after another in the United States. Confirmed losses since June alone have exceeded $100 million. An analysis says transport has become a target for crime as equipment such as servers and semiconductors has risen in value with expanding AI investment.

The Japanese media outlet Gigazine reported on Oct. 27 that cases have repeatedly occurred in the United States in which trailers carrying data centre equipment worth millions of dollars disappeared during transport. One case involved the theft of an entire trailer carrying server equipment worth $13 million. The trailer vanished while an escort vehicle was stopped after being hit by another vehicle.

A trailer carrying $10 million worth of server rack components was also stolen using a similar method. In this case as well, the escort vehicle was stopped by a collision. GPS coordinates used to track the cargo location were also manipulated, making it difficult to determine its whereabouts.

The methods are also becoming more sophisticated. Criminals are known to use phishing to seize accounts of freight brokers or carriers to learn shipping schedules, or to pose as legitimate companies to take on transport of high-value cargo. Key targets include GPUs, servers, memory, fibre-optic cables, copper wire and bitcoin mining machines.

Keith Lewis (키스 루이스), the head of operations at Verisk CargoNet, compared such crimes to stealing gold bars and pointed out, "It is much easier to steal equipment than to rob a bank."

The stolen equipment is believed to be traded through separate distribution channels rather than general online marketplaces. Some has buyers lined up before the crime, and there are also cases in which it moves to overseas markets such as China, it said.

Losses are also growing. Verisk CargoNet said total cargo thefts in the United States and Canada in the second quarter this year totalled 677 cases, down 26 percent from a year earlier. Estimated losses, however, more than doubled to $304.6 million from $135.7 million.

Experts stressed that carriers and drivers must be thoroughly vetted to prevent organised theft.