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US charges Super Micro co-founder over Nvidia exports to China
United States prosecutors charged three people – including Super Micro Computer Inc. co‑founder Yih‑Shyan “Wally” Liaw – with illegally diverting Nvidia‑powered servers to China, an indictment unsealed on Thursday said.
Super Micro is a San Jose-based maker of servers.
The indictment alleged the defendants violated the Export Control Reform Act by using a Southeast Asian middleman to create fake paperwork, repackage units, and ship servers to China without a US Commerce Department license.
The indictment said the scheme yielded about US$2.5 billion in sales since 2024, including roughly US$510 million sold between late April and mid‑May 2025 that went through the middleman to China.
Liaw and contractor Ting‑Wei “Willy” Sun were arrested, and Ruei‑Tsan “Steven” Chang is a fugitive, the US Attorney’s Office said.
Super Micro said it placed the people on leave, ended the contractor relationship and said it was not named as a defendant. Its shares fell about 12% in extended trading after the indictment.
The US Attorney’s Office said crimes involving sensitive technology must be met with swift action.
🔗 Source: CNBC
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
Super Micro’s compliance issues have a long and documented history
- The indictment comes after years of scrutiny of Super Micro’s conduct, so the accusations may go beyond a handful of employees.
- In 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Super Micro of widespread accounting violations tied to improperly accelerating revenue 1.
- Co-founder Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw resigned in January 2018 during the accounting controversy, returned as a consultant in 2021, then rejoined the board in December 2023 2.
- A 2024 short-seller report said the company used third-party exporters to ship about $210 million worth of products to Russia after the 2022 invasion 2.
The case exposes the illegal side of a global AI arms race
- The alleged scheme tracks strong demand in China for high-performance U.S. AI hardware, with legal and illegal supply routes.
- While this indictment targets illegal smuggling of physical servers, other firms like ByteDance (the Chinese owner of TikTok) can legally access advanced Nvidia chips by leasing capacity from cloud operators in third countries like Malaysia 3.
- That split raises risk for Super Micro. The Justice Department may decline prosecution when companies voluntarily self-disclose export violations, and the policy alone does not explain why prosecutors filed this case 4.
- The charges enforce U.S. national security policy that aims to limit China’s access to advanced AI hardware 5.
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