Nvidia, Supermicro employees charged over export of AI servers to China

Taiwanese authorities have indicted nine people, including employees of Nvidia and Super Micro Computer, over their alleged involvement in the illegal export of artificial intelligence servers to China.

Eight of those indicted, including one employee of Nvidia’s Taiwan unit and two employees of Supermicro’s Taiwan unit, were charged with breach of trust and document forgery in connection with the illegal export of high-end AI servers, prosecutors in the port city of Keelung said in a statement on Monday.

Of those servers, 50 were transshipped through Indonesia, eight were sent via Japan and the rest were exported directly to China, according to prosecutors.

An additional 56 servers were seized at Taiwan’s border, the statement said.

Semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is the world’s largest producer of advanced chips used in AI applications.

The United States restricts exports to China of the most cutting-edge silicon chips designed by industry leader Nvidia and used to power artificial intelligence systems.

But it is not a criminal offence in Taiwan, a situation lawmakers and experts say needs to change, with Taiwanese prosecutors relying on other laws to go after offenders.

Nvidia said its employees have “every incentive to work diligently with customers to ensure compliance with all applicable laws”, adding it would work with the Taiwan authorities to help them “resolve the allegations as quickly as possible”.