The United States Department of Justice announced legal action against three individuals linked to the company Super Micro Computer for smuggling.
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The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges against three people linked to the technology company Super Micro Computer for their participation in a scheme to smuggle advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, in violation of existing export restrictions
.
The defendants were identified as Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, co-founder of the company and a U.S. citizen; Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun, a Taiwanese contractor; and Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, also a Taiwanese national, who remains at large. According to the indictment, the three conspired to sell billions of dollars worth of U.S. technology to buyers in China by falsifying documents and manipulating equipment to evade controls
.
The DOJ maintains that those involved worked together with a Southeast Asian company, called “Company-1", which acted as a front for acquiring servers equipped with chips manufactured by Nvidia. These products, which are highly in demand in AI development, are subject to export controls for national security reasons
. Yin-Shyan Liaw, co-founder of Super Micro Chips, was charged with smuggling micro-chips to China
According to the authorities, Company-1 was listed as the end user of the equipment, but in reality the servers were forwarded to China after being re-packaged in unidentified boxes by a logistics firm. To avoid detection, the defendants allegedly used thousands of fake servers that imitated the original ones and served to pass audits, while the real devices had already been
sent illegally.
The research also details rudimentary methods used in the operation. Sun, the contractor, would have used hair dryers to remove and reposition labels and serial numbers on the equipment, a practice that was recorded on surveillance cameras
.
The DOJ estimates that the intermediary company acquired around 2.5 billion dollars worth of equipment, sending large volumes of controlled AI technology to China without the necessary licenses. Between April and mid-May 2025, more than $500 million worth of products would have been shipped
.
In a parallel case, two Chinese citizens were arrested in August 2025 for illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of Nvidia chips. According to the indictment, they used indirect routes through Malaysia and Singapore before redirecting shipments to Hong Kong and mainland China, misleading suppliers about the final destination of the products
. The company “Company-1" was acting as a front for acquiring servers equipped with Nvidia chips
For its part, Super Micro Computer assured that it fully cooperates with the investigation and stressed that it has not been charged in the case. The company confirmed that the defendants were linked to the firm: Liaw and Chang have been suspended, while Sun no longer maintains a contractual relationship. It also noted that the behaviors described contravene its internal policies and compliance controls
.
Nvidia indicated that they collaborate with authorities and customers to ensure compliance with regulations, and warned of the effectiveness of control mechanisms to detect illegal diversions.
The case comes amid a context of growing technological tensions between the United States and China. Since 2022, Washington has tightened restrictions on the export of advanced chips with the aim of limiting Beijing's technological and military development in the field of artificial intelligence
.
The impact on the markets was immediate: Super Micro Computer shares registered a 27% drop in pre-opening trading, which could translate into a loss of close to $5 billion in market value.
The United States Department of Justice estimates that equipment valued at more than 2.5 billion dollars would have been purchased
