Taiwan Detains Three Over Alleged Nvidia Server Smuggling to China

Taiwan prosecutors are seeking to detain three people accused of using forged documents to ship Nvidia AI servers to China, according to the Keelung District Prosecutors Office announcement on May 21. The servers were manufactured by US server maker Super Micro. Prosecutors allege the suspects knew the servers were tightly controlled and conspired to buy them in Taiwan and export them with false declarations. This case marks Taiwan's first public crackdown on alleged AI chip smuggling.

Taiwan Case Details

The prosecution covers approximately 50 servers. Prosecutors said the case started independently and has no direct link to a separate US investigation into an alleged $2.5 billion server diversion scheme also involving Super Micro.

Distinction From US Investigation

The Taiwan case is separate from the multibillion-dollar US smuggling investigation. In the US case, prosecutors allege Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw helped run a plan that used a Southeast Asia-based intermediary company to divert servers to China. Prosecutors allege the operation used thousands of non-working dummy servers during inspections to hide that the real machines had already shipped. They also allege the group used a hair dryer to remove and reattach labels and serial number stickers on dummy servers and boxes to mislead inspectors.

Taiwan's Enforcement Approach

Taiwan is using local offenses such as forgery and fraud to pursue the alleged export-control evasion. This approach mirrors Singapore's enforcement strategy, where authorities arrested three men in 2025 accused of misleading server suppliers about the final destination of hardware first sent to Malaysia. Similar cases have also emerged in the US and Singapore involving servers from Super Micro, Dell, and HPE, though authorities have not accused the server makers of wrongdoing.

These cases demonstrate that shipping and transshipment hubs are turning to local criminal laws to pursue alleged export-control evasion routes.