US arrests Super Micro co-founder for allegedly smuggling GPUs into China

A co-founder of high-performance computer server maker Super Micro, Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw was arrested this week with two accomplices, alleged by United States authorities to have smuggled graphics processing units for data centre artificial intelligence AI acceleration to China.

Photograph from a warehouse showing hair dryer being used to remove and re-affix serial number stickers and other labels to the dummy servers being staged for compliance.
FBI

Together with Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang, and Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, Liaw, a US citizen, has been charged with violating American export control laws for restricted AI technology.

Liaw is Super Micro's senior vice president of business development, and a member of the company's board of directors.

Together with company chief executive, Charles Liang, and his wife, Chiu-Chu Liu, Liaw founded Super Micro in 1993, specialising in high-end servers.

Sun is a contractor that the US called a "fixer" and a "broker", and a Taiwanese citizen. He was also arrested.

Chang, also Taiwanese, remains at large. He is a general manager at Super Micro's Taiwan office.

“The indictment unsealed today details alleged efforts to evade US export laws through false documents, staged dummy servers to mislead inspectors, and convoluted transshipment schemes, in order to obfuscate the true destination of restricted AI technology - China,” John Eisenberg, assistant attorney general for National Security said.

Following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) US prosecutors allege that the three attempted to sell billions of dollars of servers with export-controlled GPUs to China.

The US alleges that the three took part in a "systematic scheme to divert massive quantities of servers housing US AI technology to Chinese customers, through a "tangled web of lies, obfuscation and concealment."

Liaw and Chang allegedly worked with third-party brokers who in turn had customers in China and directed executives at an unnamed Southeast Asian company to place purchase orders with Super Micro, including GPUs.

The servers were assembled in the US and then shipped to Super Micro's facilities in Taiwan, from where they were delivered to the SE Asian company that had ordered them, the US alleges.

Further, the US alleges that the SE Asian company, in consultation with the defendants, used a logistics company to repackage the Super Micro servers into unmarked boxes, before shipping them to China.

False documentation and communications were also allegedly prepared to make it appear that the SE Asian company was the final destination for the servers.

Thousands of non-working dummy servers, replicas of real ones, were assembled for inspection by Super Micro's compliance team, at the SE Asian company locations, the US alleged.

In total, some US$2.5 billion worth of servers were purchased from Super Micro between 2024 and 2025, US authorities further allege.

According to authorities, the scheme became "more brazen over time" and AI technology worth around US$510 million was diverted to China between late April and mid-May 2025 alone.

Liaw, Chang and Sun are charged with conspiring to violate the US Export Control Reform Act, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years, and also with smuggling goods from the US and defrauding the government.

Super Micro has responded to the charges and arrest of the three, saying the server maker has been cooperating fully with the US government and is not named as a defendant.

"The conduct by these individuals alleged in the indictment is a contravention of the company's policies and compliance controls, including efforts to circumvent applicable export control laws and regulations," Super Micro said