Super Micro shares have plummeted 25% after employees were charged with smuggling Nvidia chips to China.
An indictment by the U.S. government claimed that Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, Ruei-Tsan “Steven” Chang, and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun collaborated to violate the Export Control Reform Act by illegally diverting billions of dollars in equipment containing Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China.
Liaw is a co-founder and board member of San Jose-based server manufacturer Super Micro Computer, owning $464 million worth of its shares.
The server company’s products containing Nvidia chips “are subject to strict U.S. export controls barring their sale to China without a license,” the plaintiff said in the indictment. “Those controls are in place to protect U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, among other things.”
Super Micro Computer issued a statement regarding the action by U.S. Attorney’s Office, saying: “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. Supermicro maintains a robust compliance program and is committed to full adherence to all applicable U.S. export and re-export control laws and regulations.”
“The Company has been cooperating fully with the government’s investigation and will continue to do so. Supermicro has not been named as a defendant in the indictment.”
Supermicro, founded and based in San Jose, California, is a global leader in application-optimized total IT solutions.
By CEO NA Editorial Staff
