Taiwan Indicts Nine Over Alleged Illegal Export of AI Servers to China

Taiwanese prosecutors on Monday indicted nine people, including employees of Nvidia’s and Super Micro’s Taiwan units, over the alleged illegal export of advanced artificial-intelligence servers to China.

The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office said eight of the defendants face charges of breach of trust and document forgery. One additional individual is charged in connection with siphoning funds from a related company.

According to the indictment, the group obtained 130 Super Micro B300 servers fitted with Nvidia chips under the pretence that they would be installed and used at a rented facility in Taiwan. False end-user documents were submitted. Of those servers, 74 were ultimately delivered to Chinese buyers through routes that included direct shipments and transhipments via Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong. Taiwan customs intercepted the remaining 56.

Prosecutors said the defendants knew that Nvidia and Super Micro strictly controlled destinations, end users and intended uses for the high-performance servers because of their computing power and existing US export restrictions on advanced semiconductors to China.

The investigation began after the Coast Guard Administration uncovered suspected irregularities. Searches were conducted in May. One defendant remains at large. Illicit proceeds from the resale of the 74 servers are estimated at more than $21 million.

The case marks a significant enforcement action by Taiwan as it seeks to prevent advanced AI hardware from reaching the mainland in violation of both domestic controls and US restrictions.