Taiwanese prosecutors charged nine people Monday, including one from Nvidia and two from Super Micro, for illegally exporting “high-end AI servers” to mainland China, adding another wave of turbulence in the AI rivalry between China and the United States.
Prosecutors said the servers involved were graphics processing units known as “B۳۰۰,” which have been banned from sale to China.
Seventy-four servers arrived in China successfully, according to the prosecutors. Of those, ۵۰ were sent through Indonesia, ۱۶ delivered directly to China and eight sent to Japan first, then Hong Kong, before they landed in mainland China.
Another attempt involving ۵۶ servers failed, and the servers remain in Taiwan, said the prosecutor’s office.
AI infrastructure, including advanced semiconductors mostly made in Taiwan, has become a key point of competition between the US and China. Washington began imposing restrictions on Nvidia’s exports of advanced chips to China in ۲۰۲۲ and tightened them in subsequent years. In April ۲۰۲۵, the US required licenses for exports of Nvidia’s H۲۰ chips to China before allowing some sales to resume later that year.
Under export controls, any sale by Nvidia of high-end AI servers – the computer infrastructure that houses the chips needed to power AI systems – requires a strict review process, according to a document from Keelung District prosecutors’ office in Taiwan. The document also said purchases of more than eight high-end AI servers require company staff to conduct on-site checks to the clients.
“We will work with the Taiwan authorities to help them resolve the allegations as quickly as possible,” Patrick Rutherford, an Nvidia spokesperson, said in a written statement.
Super Micro said in a written statement that the arrests of two of its former employees were due to its cooperation with the Taiwanese authorities and the company will continue to work to “enhance its robust export compliance program to protect American innovation”.
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Prosecutors are seeking the maximum five-year sentences for four of the nine defendants, including Chang, an Nvidia manager identified just by his family name. Chang was the “key figure” responsible for “authorizing the release of the B۳۰۰ GPUs” in this case but “demonstrated a clearly poor attitude following the offense”, the document said.
Some of the defendants set up a company in Japan, which helped successfully transfer eight of the servers, prosecutors said. Some allegedly created fake websites and falsified information to evade export restrictions.
