$500,000 worth of Nvidia RTX 5090 GPUs vanish from Brazilian airport
These graphics cards have gone off the grid.
A missing shipment of the Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics card. Image by Cybernews.
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- Two pallets of Zotac Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics cards disappeared at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo.
- Brazilian distributor Oderço says the missing shipment is worth about R$2.5 million, or roughly $470,000.
- The disappearance comes as RTX 5090 supply remains tight and market prices have surged.
- Oderço says it still lacks answers and is waiting for tracking information to locate the goods.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Brazilian electronics distributor Oderço has announced that 2 pallets of Zotac Nvidia RTX 5090 graphics cards have disappeared at Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo.
According to the company, the missing shipment is worth approximately 2.5 million reais ($470,000), and Oderço is confused about how the goods went missing.
Oderço, which has more than 38 years of experience in electronics and IT distribution, reported the incident in an Instagram statement after failing to receive an official response about the shipment.
“Two pallets of Zotac RTX 5090 graphics cards have disappeared at Guarulhos International Airport,” the distributor said in a statement translated from Portuguese.
“That’s approximately R$2.5 million worth of merchandise, at cost price, and so far we still have no answers,” the company added.
Shortages fuel speculation
The missing shipment incident coincides with broader supply constraints affecting Nvidia’s flagship graphics card. The scarcity of the RTX 5090 at major retailers has increased its demand in the market.
In September, the price of Nvidia RTX 5090 rocketed from an original launch price of $2,000 to over $5,000.
This was due to the short supply of consumer graphics cards, as there has been a strong industry push for AI development, fuelling speculation that manufacturers have less priority for the end-consumer.
On October 17th, Nvidia denied reports that the production of the RTX 5090 had been halted, and instead acknowledged the supply limitations directly.
High-value graphics cards have also been involved in other unfortunate incidents, such as customers receiving RTX 5090 cards that were returned without their GPU cores and memory modules.
There were also discrepancies about unreadable warranty numbers. Many graphics card owners complained that the policy number previously etched onto metal had, in newer cases, been printed on a sticker.
This made the number easily fadable, rendering it difficult to read, and in some cases rendering the policy void.
Oderço, meanwhile, awaits further tracking information from the distributor, as it tries to track down its missing goods.
