Three charged in the US with smuggling AI chips into China

US charges men reportedly tied to Super Micro Computer for helping to smuggle billions of dollars’ worth of AI chips to China.Three people associated with artificial intelligence server maker Super Micro Computer, including its cofounder, have been charged with helping smuggle at least $2.5bn-worth of United States AI technology to China in violation of export laws, according to the US Department of Justice.US prosecutors did not name Super Micro in the complaint, referring only to a “US manufacturer”, but San Jose, California-based Super Micro said it was informed by federal prosecutors of the indictment on Thursday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Taiwan and US seal deal to lower tariffs, boost chip investmentlist 2 of 4China’s silence on Iran reveals its true prioritieslist 3 of 4US intelligence agencies not expecting China to invade Taiwan in 2027list 4 of 4US and Taiwan sign ‘pivotal’ deal to cut tariffsend of listIt noted that the company itself was not named as a defendant in the case and said it had cooperated with investigators.The Justice Department said it had charged Yih-Shyan Liaw, Ruei-Tsang Chang, and Ting-Wei Sun in an indictment unsealed in federal court in Manhattan on Thursday, on allegations of a complex scheme to send US-made servers through Taiwan to other countries in Southeast Asia, where they were swapped into unmarked boxes and sent on to China.The US has had export restrictions on China for advanced AI chips since 2022.In a release, FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Barnacle said the defendants used fabricated documents, staged bogus equipment to pass audit inventories, and used a pass-through company to conceal their misconduct and true clientele list.US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said schemes such as this “pose a direct threat to US national security”.Liaw co-founded Super Micro in 1993 and joined its board of directors in 2023. Chang was a sales manager in the Taiwan office of Super Micro, while Sun was a contractor.