Super Micro Contractor Pleads Guilty in Scheme to Divert Nvidia AI Servers to China
Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, a contractor linked to Super Micro Computer, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in a case accusing him and two others associated with the company of conspiring to divert about $2.5 billion in U.S. AI technology to China, according to Reuters.
A contractor linked to Super Micro Computer has pleaded guilty in a scheme to illegally export computer servers containing advanced Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China, according to a court filing on Friday reported by Reuters. The docket in U.S. District Court in Manhattan showed that Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun entered his guilty plea on Thursday.
Sun was one of three people associated with Super Micro, including a co-founder, whom federal prosecutors charged in March with conspiring to divert about $2.5 billion worth of U.S. AI technology to China in violation of export laws. According to the indictment, the alleged scheme began around 2024 and used a company in Southeast Asia as a pass-through entity to conceal the China-based end customers.
Restricted chips at the center of the case
The indictment said Nvidia’s B200, H100 and H200 graphics processing units, and servers containing them, are on the Commerce Control List and subject to U.S. restrictions that bar sales of advanced AI chips and server systems to China without a license. Washington has tightened those controls in recent years, citing national security concerns, as the United States and China compete for dominance in artificial intelligence — a technology both governments treat as critical to economic growth, military capability and cybersecurity.
Super Micro did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to Reuters, and its shares were down marginally in extended trading.
Reporting based on coverage by Reuters.
