Taiwan prosecutors charge nine in alleged AI server shipments to China

Former Nvidia, Super Micro staff among eight facing breach-of-trust, forgery charges

Taiwan prosecutors on Monday charged nine people, including former employees of Nvidia and Super Micro Computer, in connection with the alleged shipment of advanced artificial-intelligence servers to China, as the island works to keep restricted technology from reaching the mainland.

Eight of the individuals were charged with crimes including breach of trust and forgery, prosecutors said. One individual was charged in connection with allegedly siphoning funds from a company involved in the case.

The two defendants accused of making false claims told prosecutors they secured approval for the purchase of 130 AI servers from Super Micro equipped with high-end Nvidia chips by stating the hardware would remain at a facility in Taiwan. The defendants said the servers would not be sold or exported to U.S.-sanctioned entities and that the hardware would comply with U.S. export-control regulations, according to the indictments.

According to the indictments, a Super Micro employee leaked the company’s internal vetting procedures and asked an Nvidia employee to help secure server quotas. Prosecutors alleged that the Nvidia employee was aware of the plan and assured managers that on-site inspections for the sale had cleared, facilitating approval of the sale even though the Taiwan facility lacked the required rack space, power and bandwidth.

In the end, 74 of the servers were shipped to China through Hong Kong and Indonesia. Taiwan customs officials intercepted 56 servers, which were intended for shipment to Japan.

Prosecutors said the defendants, “motivated solely by profit” and with full knowledge of export-control regulations, “colluded…to export high-end servers, driving up compliance costs for enterprises.” “This is gravely damaging to our country’s international image,” they said.

The charges come as Washington seeks to block China from obtaining the latest Nvidia chips through export controls. Those restrictions have pushed some Chinese companies to seek the hardware through alternate supply routes, and Taiwan — which manufactures advanced computing components — faces pressure to enforce export controls on the flow of restricted hardware to the mainland.

The investigation began in May. When it escalated in June, Super Micro said it was cooperating with authorities in Taiwan and other global jurisdictions to protect its technology and intellectual property. Super Micro and Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment on the indictments Monday.