Thieves stole $100M+ of AI data center freight since June. Now they're ramming escorts

More than $100 million worth of AI data center freight has been stolen since June, according to industry leaders, consultants, and investigators cited by NBC News. The heists are getting more brazen. In one incident, a shipment carrying $13 million in server equipment through the Mojave Desert had its security escort rammed by another vehicle, forcing it to stop; the trailer was later found at a California truck yard, minus its load. A second collision with a security vehicle led to the loss of another trailer carrying an estimated $10 million in server rack components.

The scale and ease of these thefts have stunned cargo security experts. 'It's like stealing pure gold bars,' says Keith Lewis, head of operations at Verisk CargoNet's cargo theft tracking team. 'It's so much easier to steal this than to rob a bank.' Lewis notes that some individual shipments have gone for $30 million or more. The reason is simple: AI data centers require vast amounts of high-value, easily resellable components - server racks, RAM modules, storage drives, copper wires, and fiber optic cables - all of which must be transported by conventional means.

The thefts are a direct byproduct of the unprecedented AI data center buildout across the US. 'Things that are precursors for the AI data centers: copper, server racks and RAM. Those are the things that are the precursors to build one, so that's what we're seeing the big increase in,' Lewis says. 'It's the dollar value that's getting the attention because the product they're stealing costs so much more.'

While the two highway heists involved physical ramming, experts say the broader threat is more sophisticated. The FBI issued a warning in April about 'cyber-enabled strategic cargo theft,' a method where criminals spoof broker email addresses to access cargo systems, bid on loads, and then have them 'cross-docked' or 'transloaded' to complicit drivers for resale. Scott Cornell, chair of the Transported Asset Protection Association, Americas, describes the rings behind these operations as 'extremely high-level organized rings operating from a dozen different countries.' 'They're planned. They're plotted. They're strategic. They're playing chess in the supply chain,' he says.

The physical heists are seen as a potential escalation of violent tactics more commonly seen in other countries, and they are drawing a government response. States including Arizona, California, Tennessee, and Illinois have established specialized cargo theft task forces. Private security escort companies are seeing rising demand from data center logistics providers, and Congress is debating a new bill to combat wider organized retail crime.

For executives building or operating AI infrastructure, the takeaway is that freight security is no longer a back-office concern. The value density of AI equipment makes it a magnet for organized crime, and the costs of theft - direct losses, insurance premiums, project delays - are ultimately borne by the companies funding the buildout. The escalation to violent heists also raises safety and liability questions for logistics teams.

The strategic stakes extend beyond individual shipments. As the AI arms race accelerates, the supply chain that feeds it becomes critical infrastructure in its own right. Companies that fail to harden their logistics networks - through better vetting of carriers, cyber safeguards against broker spoofing, and coordination with law enforcement - may find themselves paying a hidden tax on every data center they build. Those that treat freight security as a board-level priority will have a genuine competitive advantage.