I cannot stress this enough. Definitely DO NOT steal data center equipment and sell it on the black market for millions of dollars as people have been doing.
“According to new reporting by NBC, truckfuls of equipment bound for data center construction sites are disappearing at a breakneck pace, representing tens of millions of dollars in losses for developers.”
Trailers filled with millions of dollars of equipment were targeted and robbed in Texas, Georgia, and other states. Equipment worth $13 million was stolen from a single shipment. And it only took, like, two or three guys with a truck. Doing this is very wrong. Think about it. If you steal purses for a living and they have an average of $100 in them, then this single data center shipment would be like stealing 130,000 purses. One industry insider said it was like stealing pure gold bars. So yeah, that’s a really bad thing to do.
There have already been over two dozen similar thefts nationwide.
“…thefts of AI data center equipment in transit have resulted in over $100 million in losses since June of 2026 alone.”
Sure, you’ll be a hero to a lot of the world. Sure, you’ll live like a king if you don’t get caught. But that doesn’t matter. You still should not do this.
Here’s the list of reasons you definitely shouldn’t rob a truck full of data center equipment:
- Stealing is morally wrong—unless it’s stealing done by people who are already rich. Wall Street titans can steal. Banks can steal. Corporate leaders can steal. McDonald’s can steal your wages. Amazon can steal your dignity. The President can steal your social security. The health care industry can steal your life savings. …But other than that, stealing is wrong.
- Corporations are considered people in the US of A. Therefore, data centers are people because they are part of massive corporations. Hence, by stealing equipment from a data center, your actions are equivalent to ripping someone’s arms off and selling those limbs on the black market. …Don’t do that.
- Money does not equal happiness. You might have millions of dollars, but the emptiness of a vapid capitalist society will still follow you like a loyal dog.
- Data centers need that equipment to function. By stealing it, you will be slowing “development,” and “development” is always good—even when it destroys lives in the process.
- If the data center fails to become operational because of the equipment you stole, thousands of people living near that data center will be robbed of the loving, sweet, remarkably loud, never-ending hum of the data center.
- Without that data center, a teenager in Poughkeepsie will not be able to create an AI image of their algebra teacher getting dog shit thrown at him. …Or rather, it might take one second longer.
- These data centers are crucial in big tech’s efforts to control all of humanity in the coming years as AI becomes smarter than any human has ever been or ever could be. Without operational data centers, we humans will remain feral and free-range. And our imperial leaders don’t want that. …Please don’t anger them.
- Data centers are essentially the shovels we peons use to dig the holes for our own graves. Without those shovels, how will we dig our graves? It’s gonna be much harder.
And there you have it: all the reasons you absolutely, definitely, certainly, should never rob a truck bringing million-dollar equipment to a despised, repugnant, rapacious data center that steals or destroys the community’s water, power, and serenity. … Oh, I guess there’s also the possibility of a long prison sentence.