Taiwan Indicts 9 Over Alleged Illegal Export of Nvidia Servers to China

TAIPEI, Taiwan—Authorities have indicted a senior partner manager at Nvidia’s Taiwan unit, along with eight others, for allegedly taking part in a scheme to export servers with advanced Nvidia chips to China.The Keelung District Prosecutor’s Office announced the nine indictments on Aug. 24, saying that Nvidia’s senior partner manager surnamed Chang, who worked in distribution, was the “central figure” in the alleged scheme.Two other defendants, surnamed Lin and Wang, were sales managers at Supermicro’s Taiwan unit.The United States has imposed export restrictions on certain advanced Nvidia chips to China without a license since 2022.Compliance Rules, Verification ProtocolsProsecutors stated that Supermicro maintains strict oversight of sales of its advanced artificial intelligence servers equipped with Nvidia B300 graphics processing units (GPUs). Purchases are limited to Nvidia’s approved buyer list, requiring customers to document end users and their intended applications while explicitly barring resale.For orders of eight or more B300 servers, sales representatives and technicians from the Taiwan units of both Supermicro and Nvidia must conduct on-site inspections to verify deployment and intended use, according to prosecutors.Execution of Alleged SchemeThe alleged scheme involved the defendants disguising their purchase of 130 B300 servers by falsely claiming the hardware would be deployed at a rented server facility in Taiwan.In February 2025, two defendants, both surnamed Chen—one of whom is the owner and the other president of a local server distributor—along with co-conspirators, took control of a Japan-based company, according to prosecutors. They then allegedly used the Japanese entity to secure a spot on Nvidia’s approved buyer list.By July 2025, the alleged scheme had taken shape, according to prosecutors. Lin was to leak Supermicro’s vetting guidelines, enabling the two Chens’ company to prepare fraudulent documentation and secure server quotas through Chang.Meanwhile, another defendant, surnamed Lu, the chief executive of an authorized Supermicro distributor, agreed to route the order through his own company. This allowed the intermediary to front the payment and bypass Supermicro’s compliance checks on the Chens’ funding sources.Finally, another defendant, surnamed Tsai, a project manager at a local data center provider, was tasked with staging a leased server facility space. By making the facility look fully operational, Tsai aimed to deceive inspectors during mandatory on-site audits.On Sept. 8, 2025, Chen, president of the server distributor, submitted a Supermicro form containing fraudulent statements—falsely claiming his company was the end user, that the servers would be installed in Taiwan, and that the hardware would not be exported or transferred to U.S.-sanctioned entities.When Supermicro and Nvidia inspected the leased server facility space on Sept. 10, 2025, Chang, Lin, Lu, and other defendants allegedly deceived inspectors into believing the site met the necessary electrical and network bandwidth requirements.Diversion, Illicit ShipmentsSupermicro subsequently approved the sale of 130 B300 servers to the Chens’ company.Upon receiving the initial shipment of two servers, the Chens’ company allegedly diverted them to a Chinese buyer at Lu’s recommendation when the original client defaulted on payment.That same Chinese buyer received 38 additional servers—14 shipped directly to China and 24 routed through Indonesia before arriving in China—from the Chens’ company, according to prosecutors. The shipments were sent with the assistance of a local customs clearance service provider headed by another defendant surnamed Yu.A second Chinese buyer received 26 servers, transshipped through Indonesia in January, and acquired eight additional units routed through Hong Kong in April.The Chens’ company allegedly attempted to export the remaining 56 servers to the Japan-based company, but Taiwanese authorities intercepted the shipment after detecting irregularities.In return for completing the resale of 74 servers, the Chens received more than $21.2 million in illicit proceeds, according to prosecutors.Prosecutor Remarks, Corporate ResponsesAlso indicted was the head of a local international trading company surnamed Wang.All nine defendants were charged with breach of trust and forgery, according to prosecutors.Prosecutors highlighted seven of the nine defendants—including Chang, Lin, Tsai, and the Chens—saying they “colluded with one another at various levels for enormous profit, illegally exporting high-end servers, increasing corporate compliance costs, and ⁠severely ​damaging our nation’s international image.”In a statement, Nvidia said its employees have “every incentive to work diligently with customers to ensure compliance with all applicable laws,” adding that it would cooperate with Taiwan authorities to help them “resolve the allegations as quickly as possible.”Supermicro said in a statement that its cooperation with Taiwanese authorities led to the arrests of indicted defendants, including two former employees of its Taiwan subsidiary.“The Company continues to cooperate with Taiwan authorities, is not a target ​of their investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing,” Supermicro added.In March, federal prosecutors in California charged a co-founder of Supermicro, a Taiwanese contractor, and a Taiwanese citizen who worked as general manager for Supermicro in Taiwan, in connection with an alleged scheme to divert servers equipped with Nvidia GPUs to China.Reuters contributed to this report.Correction: A previous version of this article misstated the month that a Chinese buyer received 26 B300 servers transshipped through Indonesia and who acquired eight additional units routed through Hong Kong in April. The Epoch Times regrets the errors.