As for NVIDIA, we’ve learned that two pallets of Zotac RTX 5090s have reportedly vanished mysteriously from an international airport in Brazil. In fact, the company’s president has spoken out to find out where these pallets have gone, since, in theory, pallets don’t just vanish like that. Furthermore, with the skyrocketing prices of electronic components, this type of theft is bound to happen again… But for pallets to actually vanish from an international airport—that’s quite something!
RTX 5090: Two pallets vanish without a trace at an airport in Brazil!
Worth $470,000:
Although the pallets reportedly passed through customs upon arrival in Brazil, they appear to have vanished from the airport premises. In fact, once they passed through customs, the pallets vanished from the radar. Given the declared value of $470,000 (after converting Brazilian reais to euros), they must have contained at least 63 graphics cards from Zotac. It’s worth noting that in Brazil, the average retail price of the RTX 5090 ranges from 33,000 to 39,000 reais.
Naturally, the company’s president, Oderço Matos, has begun seeking answers through official channels, but to no avail. He decided to post a video on social media demanding answers, but apparently to no avail. For their part, the Brazilian police and airport officials have not commented on the matter, nor have NVIDIA and Zotac.
Will these thefts happen again?
Given that the RTX 5090 currently retails for $9,000 and even exceeds $10,000 on Newegg, it’s understandable that some might be tempted to make the card shipments “disappear” as soon as they arrive at the airport. Some people have “stolen” trailers, thinking they’d get their hands on expensive equipment just because the trailers bore the NVIDIA and PlusAI logos. Unfortunately for them, the trailers were filled with nothing but sand, and they were eventually recovered.
Regardless of these theft stories, there are likely to be more, especially since scams have been on the rise lately.