Taiwanese prosecutors have detained an Nvidia employee and searched the company鈥檚 offices as part of an ongoing probe into the alleged smuggling of the U.S. company鈥檚 AI chips into China, Bloomberg reported.
Local investigators searched the home of the Nvidia employee and his desk at the company鈥檚 Taipei office, according to Bloomberg. The investigation stems from allegations that Super Micro Computer鈥檚 servers carrying Nvidia chips were shipped to China using falsified documents and shell companies, in violation of U.S. export controls.
Last month, Taiwanese prosecutors raised Supermicro鈥檚 offices and searched the homes of six people and the sites of three companies affiliated with Supermicro. In March, The U.S. Justice Department charged three Supermicro employees with illegally shipping at least $2.5 billion worth of advanced AI servers to China, violating U.S. export controls.
As demand for AI chips has soared, chip smuggling has become a major underground industry. The Information鈥檚 article in 2024 showed how smugglers disguised as legitimate chip buyers leased data centers and moved the chips to China as soon as Nvidia staff finished inspecting the facilities. #馃嚚馃嚦 ChinA.I. 馃馃馃馃
https://www.bloomberg.com..