US authorities have charged and arrested the co-founder of Super Micro Computer, Inc. in connection with an alleged multi-billion-dollar scheme to smuggle advanced AI chips from the United States to China.
In a statement released Thursday, the Justice Department said it had unsealed an indictment against Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, along with Super Micro sales executives Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun, over their alleged roles in the conspiracy.
Prosecutors claim the trio violated US export control laws by coordinating the sale of billions of dollars’ worth of servers containing restricted graphics processing units to Chinese buyers.
While Super Micro itself has not been charged, the California-based company—valued at $18.5 billion—specializes in high-performance servers and data center hardware for major clients such as IBM, with infrastructure partnerships including Nvidia and Google.
According to the Justice Department, the alleged scheme involved concealment tactics such as falsified documents, staged equipment for audit inspections, and the use of intermediary companies to obscure the true end buyers. Authorities say roughly $2.5 billion worth of servers were sold to a Chinese firm across 2024 and 2025, including $510 million in transactions between April and May 2025 alone.
FBI officials stated that the defendants attempted to mask their activities and client relationships through these deceptive practices.
Liaw and Sun have been arrested and are set to appear in court in the Northern District of California, while Chang—reported to be based outside the US—remains at large.
Super Micro said it is cooperating fully with investigators and emphasized that the alleged actions violated its internal policies and compliance controls. The company also confirmed it has not been named as a defendant in the case.
After initially rising during Thursday’s regular trading session, Super Micro’s stock fell sharply following the announcement, dropping 13.25% to $26.71 in after-hours trading.
