Last week, Taiwan’s Keelung District Prosecutors Office detained three suspects for allegedly attempting to smuggle Super Micro Computer servers containing NVIDIA’s high-end chips into China by using forged export documents, thereby violating U.S. chip export controls targeting China. Taiwanese authorities have seized roughly 50 servers in this case, marking the first public crackdown on attempts to circumvent AI chip export restrictions in Taiwan — a move driven by years of pressure from the United States to tighten oversight.
As reported by Bloomberg on May 27, citing sources familiar with the matter, further investigation revealed that at least one batch of servers had already cleared Taiwanese customs prior to authorities’ intervention. This shipment was exported to Japan first, then rerouted through Hong Kong — a well-known transit hub — before ultimately reaching mainland China. The sources declined to disclose the exact number of servers that successfully left the country. The three suspects are also alleged to have planned to use Japan as a transit point for the seized servers. Neither NVIDIA nor Super Micro Computer has commented on the case.
According to Bloomberg, this case appears to be the first prosecution effort targeting smuggling routes for AI chips via Japan, a key U.S. ally; this differs from previously documented circumvention pathways through Southeast Asia. In related developments, the U.S. Department of Justice filed charges against three Super Micro Computer employees in March this year, accusing them of smuggling NVIDIA restricted chips worth an estimated $2.5 billion into China. Tactics used included fabricating fake “shell” servers to satisfy audits and mislabeling genuine shipments. Last August, two Chinese nationals were arrested on similar charges involving chip exports to mainland China via Malaysia and Singapore. Whether there is any connection between the current Taiwan case and those U.S.-based investigations remains unclear.