Three individuals are in custody in Taiwan after prosecutors uncovered an alleged scheme to smuggle Nvidia AI chips to China by routing them through Japan. The case, reported by Bloomberg News, represents Taiwan’s first known public enforcement action targeting the circumvention of US semiconductor export controls.
Taiwan’s Keelung District Prosecutors Office detained the suspects on May 21 on charges of forging export documents tied to shipments of Super Micro Computer servers packed with advanced Nvidia chips. At least one shipment reportedly made it to Hong Kong after transiting through Japan, with investigators suspecting it was ultimately bound for mainland China.
The scheme and what was seized
Investigators also intercepted a second planned shipment before it left Taiwan. That seizure netted roughly 50 Supermicro AI servers valued at more than $15 million.
The US has maintained export restrictions on advanced Nvidia chips since 2022, specifically to prevent China from accessing the cutting-edge silicon that underpins modern artificial intelligence development.
