25 August 2026
Nvidia manager indicted in AI chip smuggling scheme to China
First reported
Ars Technica ran this on , a day before the next source picked it up.
- Taiwan indicted nine people for illegally exporting Nvidia AI servers to China by forging documents claiming equipment was installed locally instead.
- At least 74 high-end servers were successfully smuggled to Chinese customers, while 56 more were blocked by customs before export.
- A Southeast Asian distributor company coordinated with employees at both Nvidia and Supermicro to bypass US export controls that have been in place since 2022.
- The US is considering legislation to close a loophole allowing China remote cloud access to AI computing power through Southeast Asian data centers.
How it was covered
The AlgorithmMIT Technology Review
An Nvidia manager was charged as a central figure in a scheme to smuggle AI chips into China, with prosecutors pursuing the case and Taiwan indicting nine people over alleged illegal exports.
Reported by Ars Technica