TAIPEI – Super Micro Computer’s offices in Taiwan were raided by government authorities on June 29, widening an investigation into the alleged smuggling of Nvidia chips into China using the company’s servers, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The new sent the company’s Nasdaq-listed shares down 8.1 per cent on June 29.
Local investigators raided the residences of six individuals and the sites of three affiliated companies on June 29 as part of the ongoing probe into allegedly illegal exports of Super Micro’s servers, Taiwan’s Keelung District Prosecutors Office said in a statement.
While prosecutors declined to provide names of those searched, Super Micro’s Taiwan office was among them, a person familiar with the situation said. Super Micro, which has previously said it is cooperating with Taiwanese authorities on the probe, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Super Micro said in a statement that it’s working closely with Taiwanese authorities. “Super Micro is committed to protecting our advanced technologies and intellectual property,” the firm said. “Super Micro products continued to be targetted in these matters, and we continue to cooperate with law enforcement and government officials in Taiwan and other jurisdictions in which we operate to ensure our technology is distributed as lawfully intended.”
The move marks an expansion of Taiwan’s first public crackdown on AI chip diversion after years of pressure from Washington to take a more active role in curtailing China’s tech access. The United States has for years restricted exports of advanced AI chips to China over concerns that the hardware, the vast majority of which is produced in Taiwan, could benefit Beijing’s military efforts.
Taiwan doesn’t currently treat AI chip exports to China as a crime. While Taiwan authorities do warn potential sellers that they may be breaking US rules should they proceed, the only legal recourse through the island’s courts is to charge suspected smugglers with violations of other, existing local laws. Taipei is now considering criminalising exports themselves, which would give local prosecutors more tools to go after the illicit trade.
Authorities made their first known detentions of alleged chip smugglers in May, on charges of falsifying documents related to exports of Super Micro servers containing highly priced Nvidia AI chips. The three individuals were suspected of successfully sending at least one batch of Nvidia’s AI chips to China via Japan, Bloomberg News has reported, and attempting to export around 50 servers that Taiwan authorities seized before they left the island.
Taiwanese data centre operator Chief Telecom and Super Micro distributor Albatron Technology were also raided on June 29, the person familiar with the investigation said.
Taiwan’s Keelung District Prosecutors Office said in its statement that it has also summoned the individuals searched on June 29 for interviews.
Taipei is considering fortifying its export controls on AI chips sales to China to better align with the US, Bloomberg has reported. That would give Taiwan prosecutors more tools to crack down on illicit trade of AI hardware, which is manufactured in bulk on the island. Both Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices rely on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to make their cutting-edge AI chips. BLOOMBERG
