Taiwan Indicts 9 Over Illegal AI Chip Exports to China

Taiwanese prosecutors on Monday indicted nine individuals including employees of Nvidia and Super Micro Computer for illegally exporting artificial intelligence servers to China in violation of trade controls.

The Keelung District Prosecutors' Office stated that the defendants knowingly bypassed strict corporate compliance procedures to profit from the scheme. Officials accused the group of colluding across multiple levels also generating massive illicit profits while increasing compliance burdens for tech firms and damaging Taiwan’s international reputation.

As the world's leading manufacturer of advanced semiconductors and Taiwan enforces tight technology trade controls alongside U.S. restrictions enacted in 2022 that ban high-performance AI chip exports to China. Prosecutors had been investigating the unauthorized export of high-end servers containing restricted Nvidia processors.

Neither Nvidia nor Super Micro immediately issued comments regarding the indictment.

The charges reflect Taipei’s broader efforts to prevent critical tech capabilities and intellectual property from reaching Beijing, which maintains territorial claims over democratically governed Taiwan despite strong objections from the island's government.