Overview
- The Justice Department indicted three men for allegedly smuggling high‑performance Nvidia chips to China in violation of U.S. export rules.
- Authorities publicly identified Yih‑Shyan Liaw, Ting‑Wei Sun, and Ruei‑Tsang Chang, describing roles that included senior positions at Super Micro Computer and work as a contractor.
- Liaw and Sun were arrested in California, while Chang, the director of Supermicro’s Taiwan office, is reported to be at large.
- Prosecutors allege the operation used U.S.-assembled servers, transit through Taiwan and a Southeast Asian intermediary, unlabelled shipments, dummy hardware, and forged documents to conceal the China destination.
- Officials cite roughly $2.5 billion in illicit technology transfers since 2024, including $510 million in a late‑April to mid‑May 2025 window; Supermicro suspended implicated staff, pledged cooperation, and its shares fell about 12%, while defendants face potential decades in prison if convicted.