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Federal prosecutors in the United States have charged three men tied to Super Micro Computer in what authorities describe as a sweeping effort to send advanced artificial intelligence server technology to China in violation of export control rules.
The case, unsealed in federal court in Manhattan on March 19, 2026, centers on an alleged scheme that prosecutors say involved at least $2.5 billion in orders for high-performance servers assembled in the United States and routed overseas through deceptive channels before reaching Chinese customers.
According to BBC and the Associated Press, the defendants are Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, senior executive Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, and contractor Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun.
Super Micro said it had placed Liaw, the company’s Senior Vice President of Business Development, and Chang, a sales manager, on leave after the charges were announced. The company also said it had cut ties with Sun, who had worked as a contractor.
Prosecutors say the three men arranged for servers to be shipped first to Taiwan and then to a company in Southeast Asia, where labels were allegedly removed or changed before the hardware was sent on to China. Investigators also allege the operation relied on false paperwork, sham end-user details and staged inspections to hide the true destination of the equipment.
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The alleged scheme ran from 2024 into 2025 and, according to the indictment, became more aggressive over time. Authorities say more than $510 million worth of servers were diverted to China in less than two months as demand for advanced AI computing systems surged.
While court documents cited by news agencies do not list every chip model involved, the servers were said to contain advanced Nvidia processors, hardware that has become central to the global race to build and deploy powerful AI systems.
Neither the court documents nor the Justice Department identified Super Micro as the employer of the three men. The filings said only that they worked for the same U.S. manufacturer, a company that dealt in high-end computer chips, including those designed by Nvidia.
Since 2022, the United States has tightened restrictions on the export of advanced AI chips and related systems to China, arguing that such technology could strengthen Beijing’s military and surveillance capabilities. Prosecutors say the defendants tried to get around those controls by making the servers appear to be headed to legitimate customers outside China, even though the real buyers were allegedly based inside the country.
Super Micro itself has not been charged. Reuters reported that the company was informed of the indictment on March 19 and has cooperated with investigators. The company placed Liaw and Chang on leave and terminated Sun after learning of the allegations. Nvidia, which supplies key chips used in many AI servers, said it follows export control rules and expects its partners to do the same.
The broader policy backdrop has also shifted in recent months: after initially trying to block Beijing from obtaining Nvidia’s most advanced processors, the U.S. government said in December 2025 that it would allow Nvidia to export some H200 chips to approved customers in China under strict conditions.
The legal and commercial stakes are significant. Super Micro has been one of the major corporate beneficiaries of the AI infrastructure boom, building server systems that help data centers run Nvidia-powered workloads. But the same boom has also raised the value of restricted hardware, creating strong incentives for illicit middlemen and transshipment networks. U.S. officials have increasingly warned that export rules are only as effective as their enforcement, especially when goods can be routed through third countries before reaching blacklisted or restricted destinations.
The Justice Department said a company identified in court filings as Company-1 is believed to have bought around $2.5 billion worth of equipment and sent what prosecutors described as “massive quantities of servers with controlled U.S. artificial intelligence technology” to China.
Liaw and Sun were arrested, while Chang remains at large, according to reports on the case. Prosecutors say the men used dummy machines and misleading compliance checks to help move restricted technology through the supply chain without triggering scrutiny. If proved in court, the allegations would mark one of the largest known attempts to evade U.S. controls on advanced AI hardware.
For Super Micro, the case creates a new layer of pressure at a time when the company is already under intense investor and regulatory attention. Shares fell sharply after news of the charges became public, reflecting broader market concerns about governance, compliance and the risks facing companies operating at the center of the AI server business.
The case also serves as another warning that the U.S.-China contest over advanced computing is no longer confined to policy papers and trade restrictions. It is now playing out in criminal court, inside supply chains and across the global market for the hardware powering the AI era.
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