Supermicro Co-Founder Arrested for Smuggling $2.5B in Nvidia AI Chips to China

Three people affiliated with Supermicro, including co-founder Wally Liaw, were charged with conspiring to smuggle $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia GPU servers to China via a Southeast Asian intermediary that repackaged $510M in banned chips for Chinese delivery. Liaw and Taiwanese broker Willy Sun were arrested; sales manager Steven Chang remains a fugitive. Each faces up to 20 years for Export Controls Reform Act violations. Supermicro shares plunged 33%, erasing $6B in market value. The case represents the largest AI chip export control enforcement action to date.