Overview
- Prosecutors executed coordinated searches of Super Micro Computer’s Taiwan office, affiliated firms and multiple residences in a large operation that expanded on Monday and has led to the detention and questioning of several workers.
- The raids follow a March U.S. Department of Justice indictment that charges three individuals, including Supermicro co‑founder Yih‑Shyan “Wally” Liaw, with conspiring to divert roughly $2.5 billion in Nvidia‑equipped servers to China.
- Investigators previously seized about 50 Supermicro servers in May and arrested suspects accused of falsifying export documents that prosecutors say were used to route restricted Nvidia chips to China, Hong Kong and Macau.
- Supermicro as a corporate entity has not been charged and says it is cooperating with authorities while placing implicated employees on leave and cutting ties with an accused contractor; the company’s shares fell sharply on the news.
- Taiwan currently lacks a specific criminal ban on exporting AI chips to China so prosecutors rely on forgery and breach‑of‑trust laws, and officials in Taipei are discussing legal changes as the case raises questions about U.S.‑Taiwan enforcement coordination and broader supply‑chain compliance.