GoKawiilTaiwan has indicted nine people—reportedly including an Nvidia senior manager and two Supermicro employees based in the country—who allegedly helped forge documents to cover up illegal exports of high-end AI servers to China in violation of US export controls.
On Monday, Reuters reported that prosecutors in Keelung did not release any names but confirmed that the suspects were “charged with breach of trust and document forgery.” One suspect linked to a related case remains at large, accused of the “siphoning of funds from a distributor company involved” in helping China get access to restricted Nvidia chips.
Since 2022, the US has required a license to export semiconductors to China, with the intent of protecting national security by staying ahead of China in the AI race. But after the US arrested Supermicro co-founder Wally Liaw in March for allegedly funneling $2.5 billion in restricted AI servers to China since 2024, Taiwan launched a separate probe to learn more about the scheme.
Taiwan’s investigation found that co-conspirators attempted to falsify documents to make it appear that 130 B300 servers were installed and in use at a Taiwan facility. But 74 of those servers “were ultimately exported and delivered to Chinese customers,” Reuters reported, while the rest, 56, were intended to go to China but were blocked once Taiwanese customs officials “detected irregularities.”
Ars could not reach Nvidia for comment.
A spokesperson for Supermicro shared a statement: “Supermicro’s cooperation with Taiwanese authorities led to the arrests of the indicted individuals, including two former employees of its Taiwan subsidiary. The Company continues to cooperate with Taiwan authorities, is not a target of their investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. As announced on August 20, a recent investigation conducted by Supermicro’s independent directors and independent legal and forensic accounting advisors found that the Company’s compliance personnel have acted in good faith, with the support of management, to mitigate the risk of illegal diversion. Supermicro will continue working to combat this industry-wide challenge and enhance its robust export compliance program to protect American innovation.”