Prosecutors in Taiwan indicted nine people for allegedly sending high-end AI servers to China. The group includes employees from both NVIDIA and Super Micro. Authorities from the northern city of Keelung stated the defendants colluded for massive financial gain. Prosecutors added that the actions damaged national credibility and increased corporate compliance costs.
The accused carried out the illegal shipments despite knowing about strict export rules at NVIDIA and Super Micro. Taiwan operates under stringent export laws for advanced technology. The island nation aims to maintain good standing with US regulators, especially under the Trump administration.
United States rules have banned sales of cutting-edge artificial intelligence hardware to China since 2022. US authorities recently permitted sales of older legacy products like the H200 chip. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company manufactures most NVIDIA chips. TSMC routes advanced packaging through Taiwan even when production starts elsewhere.
Bad actors continue finding loopholes to move banned hardware into mainland China. Past circumvention methods involved routing shipments through Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand or Malaysia. Separate US charges previously targeted individuals over billions of dollars in redirected server hardware.
The indicted individuals face formal prosecution in Taiwan following the conclusion of the investigation.
