Taiwan charges nine over smuggling of high-end AI servers to China
Taiwanese prosecutors on Monday charged nine people, including staff from Nvidia and Super Micro, over the illegal export of advanced AI servers to mainland China. The case adds fresh friction to the US-China rivalry over artificial intelligence technology.
Prosecutors in Taiwan announced charges on Monday against nine individuals, including one Nvidia employee and two former Super Micro staff, over the illegal export of "high-end" AI servers to mainland China. The equipment in question consisted of B300 graphics processing units, which are banned from sale to China.
According to prosecutors, 74 servers successfully reached China: 50 were routed through Indonesia, 16 were shipped directly, and eight travelled first to Japan and then through Hong Kong before arriving on the mainland. A separate attempt to move another 56 servers failed, and those units remain in Taiwan.
Export controls amid US-China tensions
AI infrastructure, including advanced semiconductors largely manufactured in Taiwan, has become a central front in the technological rivalry between the United States and China. Washington has progressively tightened restrictions on Nvidia's exports of advanced chips to China since 2022. In April 2025, the US began requiring licenses for exports of Nvidia's H20 chips, with some sales allowed to resume later in the year.
According to a document from the Keelung District prosecutors' office, any sale of high-end AI servers by Nvidia must undergo a strict review process, and orders exceeding eight such servers require company staff to conduct on-site inspections of the buyer.
Nvidia spokesperson Patrick Rutherford said the company would work with Taiwanese authorities to help resolve the allegations as quickly as possible. Super Micro said the arrests of its two former employees resulted from its cooperation with Taiwanese authorities, adding that it would continue strengthening its export compliance program.
Prosecutors are seeking the maximum five-year sentence for four of the nine defendants, including an Nvidia manager identified by the surname Chang, described as the key figure who authorized the release of the B300 units. Some defendants allegedly set up a company in Japan that helped transfer eight of the servers, and created fake websites with falsified information to evade export restrictions.
