Co-Conspirator Pleads Guilty in AI Chip Smuggling Case to China
Ting-Wei Sun, a broker who coordinated the illegal shipment of Nvidia AI chips to China, has pleaded guilty, while a co-founder has denied the charges.
In the case regarding the illegal shipment of Super Micro servers containing Nvidia AI chips to China, broker Ting-Wei Sun has pleaded guilty under a plea agreement with prosecutors. Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan Liaw is contesting the charges.
Broker Pleads Guilty
Ting-Wei Willy Sun has admitted to allegations that he was involved in a conspiracy to illegally transfer Nvidia AI chips to China. According to Bloomberg, this step was taken as part of an agreement with prosecutors.
The Conducted Shipment Operation
According to details uncovered during the trial, the suspects first routed the Super Micro servers to a company based in Southeast Asia. Fake documents and dummy servers were prepared to evade inspections there.
It was determined that workers used hair dryers to remove the serial numbers on the real servers and transferred them into fake chassis, while the actual devices were delivered to China.
Status of Other Defendants
The investigation, conducted alongside Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan Wally Liaw and sales manager Ruei-Tsang Steven Chang, revealed that a Thailand-based company was also involved in the shipping supply chain.
While it was determined that the sent hardware reached Alibaba, the Chinese tech giant denied allegations that it took delivery of the banned Nvidia hardware.