US charges three tied to Super Micro Computer with helping smuggle billions of dollars of AI chips to China

Super Micro shares sank 24% on Friday after US prosecutors charged three people linked with the company, including its cofounder, with helping smuggle billions of dollars worth of AI technology to China.

The drop in premarket trading would erase more than $4 billion from Super Micro's $18.49 billion market value if ‌the losses hold. US ⁠prosecutors ⁠did not name Super Micro - a major AI server builder using Nvidia's chips - in the complaint. The company confirmed it was not named as a defendant in the case, and said it had cooperated with investigators.

The US Justice Department charged co-founder Yih-Shyan Liaw, sales manager Ruei-Tsang Chang, and contractor Ting-Wei Sun with running a scheme to route US-made servers through Taiwan to ⁠Southeast Asia. ‌There, the products were repackaged into unmarked boxes and smuggled into China.


They allegedly moved at least $2.5 billion in US ⁠AI technology, including over half a billion dollars' worth shipped between ​April and mid-May 2025, the department said.

Super Micro ​has placed the employees on leave and ended its relationship with the contractor.

Bernstein analysts said the charges raise "serious credibility issues that could impact business".

"We wonder if Nvidia might feel the need to further distance themselves from SMCI. If so, this could impact SMCI's important supply of GPUs, ‌which in turn could have devastating impact on SMCI," the analysts said.

The US imposed chip export controls in 2022 ​to make sure Beijing's ​military would not ⁠benefit from its technology, and to slow the development of China's AI efforts.

San Jose, California-based Super Micro earlier said the restrictions impacted certain products, including ​those that contain the Nvidia A100 and H100 integrated circuits.

Soaring demand for AI chips had sent Super Micro's valuation to a peak of $67 billion in 2024, but margin pressure from building the servers and allegations from the now-disbanded short-seller Hindenburg have since dragged the stock lower.