Taiwanese prosecutors have indicted nine people, including Nvidia and Super Micro employees, over an alleged scheme to illegally export high-end artificial intelligence servers to China.
The suspects were accused of using false documents and intermediary countries to circumvent US restrictions on the export of advanced Nvidia chips, prosecutors in the northern Taiwan city of Keelung said Monday.
Eight of the suspects, including an employee of Nvidia Taiwan and two employees of Super Micro’s unit in Taiwan, were charged with breach of trust and falsification of documents. A ninth suspect faces charges in a related case involving alleged financial misconduct.
Prosecutors said the suspects allegedly arranged for 130 Super Micro B300 AI servers to appear to be installed and used at a facility in Taiwan.
However, 74 of the servers were eventually exported to Chinese customers, either directly or through Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong. Taiwan customs officials intercepted the remaining 56 servers after detecting irregularities.
Prosecutors said the suspects were fully aware of the strict export controls imposed by Nvidia and Super Micro, but allegedly worked together for financial gain.
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The United States has imposed restrictions since 2022 on the export of advanced semiconductors to China without government approval, as Washington seeks to limit Beijing’s access to technologies considered critical to artificial intelligence and national security.
Taiwan has also tightened its own export controls in recent years to prevent advanced technology and semiconductor know-how from reaching China.
Nvidia and Super Micro did not immediately comment on the allegations.
The case comes amid rising tensions between the United States and China over advanced chips and artificial intelligence, with access to high-performance computing technology becoming a major point of contention between the two countries.
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