The US charged a Super Micro Computer Inc. co-founder with illegally diverting billions of dollars in Nvidia Corp.-powered servers to China, initiating its highest-profile crackdown on alleged smuggling of restricted AI technology to the Asian country.
US prosecutors indicted Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw for sending US-assembled servers containing Nvidia’s cutting-edge chips to China in violation of US export controls. Liaw and two others associated with Super Micro allegedly sold the hardware to an unnamed Southeast Asian company and coordinated for its ultimate shipment to Chinese customers.
The move sent shares of Super Micro plummeting on Friday, erasing more than $6 billion from the company’s market value. Super Micro said on Friday afternoon that Liaw had resigned from the board, effective immediately.
The scheme involved efforts by the defendants and others to evade scrutiny by auditors from both Super Micro and the US government, the indictment said — including by falsifying records and setting up “dummy” servers to which they removed and affixed serial numbers with a hair dryer. Also charged in the latest case were Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, who served as a general manager in Super Micro’s Taiwan office, and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun, an outside contractor described by US authorities as a “fixer” who allegedly aided in the diversion.