TAIPEI, May 21 (Reuters) – Taiwanese prosecutors said on Thursday they were investigating three people suspected of illegally exporting high-end AI servers made by Super Micro and containing Nvidia chips which are subject to U.S. export controls.
In March, the U.S. Justice Department charged three people associated with Super Micro, including its co-founder, with helping smuggle at least $2.5 billion of U.S. AI technology to China in violation of export laws.
Prosecutors in the northern Taiwanese city of Keelung said in a statement the three people they were investigating, whose full names they did not provide, allegedly knew that Super Micro AI servers were subject to strict U.S. controls and banned from being sold to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
But in order to seek “huge illegal profits” by selling them to China, the defendants allegedly conspired to purchase the servers in Taiwan and then declare them for export using false documents and information, the prosecutors said.
Super Micro and Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Both companies have said that they are committed to compliance with U.S. export laws.
The prosecutors said that on Wednesday they had directed Taiwan’s coast guard to carry out searches at 12 locations, including the residences of the three defendants and related companies.
Evidence was seized, and the three defendants and related witnesses were detained or summoned for questioning, they added.
Semiconductor powerhouse Taiwan is the main producer of the advanced chips powering the trend towards AI.
Taiwan already has strict rules to try to prevent high-tech products and know-how going to China, which views the island as its own territory and has been ramping up political and military pressure against its democratically elected government. Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Wen-Yee Lee; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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