San francisco: A senior vice president and two associates have been charged in the United States with conspiring to smuggle billions of dollars' worth of computer servers equipped with advanced chips to China, in violation of U.S. export control laws. Federal prosecutors have revealed that the defendants allegedly diverted large quantities of high-performance servers assembled in the U.S. to China between 2024 and 2025. They reportedly employed fabricated documents, staged equipment to pass audits, and used a pass-through company to conceal their activities and actual customers.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the accused include Yih-Shyan 'Wally' Liaw, 71, a U.S. citizen and senior vice president and board member of Super Micro Computer; Ting-Wei 'Willy' Sun, 44, a company contractor; and Ruei-Tsang 'Steven' Chang, a Taiwan-based sales manager who remains at large. Liaw was apprehended in California and was released on bail, while Sun is being held pending a bail hearing.
Court papers indicate that Liaw and Chang directed a Southeast Asian firm to place approximately $2.5 billion in server orders from the California-based company, with at least $510 million worth later being diverted to China. Super Micro has stated that the alleged conduct violated company policies and that it is cooperating with investigators. Nvidia has asserted that it maintains strict compliance measures and does not support systems diverted in breach of export regulations.