The Digester

U.S. prosecutors charge Super Micro employees with smuggling Nvidia servers to China

Mar 20th 2026

The Southern District of New York says a Super Micro co-founder and two associates used fake paperwork and dummy servers to divert Nvidia GPU-powered servers to China, producing about $2.5 billion in sales; two men were arrested and one is a fugitive while the company is not charged.

  • The Southern District of New York indicted Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, Ruei-Tsan "Steven" Chang and Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun for allegedly violating the Export Control Reform Act by diverting Nvidia GPU servers to China.
  • Prosecutors say the scheme used a Southeast Asian middleman, fake paperwork, repackaging and dummy servers to conceal shipments bound for China.
  • The alleged diversions generated roughly $2.5 billion in sales since 2024, including about $510 million moved between late April and mid-May 2025.
  • Liaw is a Super Micro co-founder and board member who controls about $464 million in company shares, and Super Micro said the company itself is not a defendant.
  • Liaw and Sun were arrested, Chang is a fugitive, and Super Micro placed the employees on leave and cut ties with the contractor named in the indictment.
  • Super Micro shares fell about 12% in extended trading after the indictment was unsealed, and the case comes amid tighter U.S. export controls on high-end Nvidia GPUs while Nvidia has been restarting some shipments to China.

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