Taiwan's Keelung District Prosecutors' Office indicted nine people on Monday, August 24, 2026, over the alleged routing of Supermicro AI servers built on Nvidia B300 processors to buyers in mainland China. Of the 130 servers ordered, 74 reached Chinese customers after internal checks cleared the sale, prosecutors say. The indictment alleges those checks were defeated by people working at Nvidia's Taiwan office, Supermicro's Taiwan branch and an authorized Supermicro distributor.

What Changed

AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.

The controls

At the time of the 2025 order, B300-server buyers had to appear on Nvidia's whitelist, submit end-user and end-use documents, and accept a no-resale condition. Orders of more than eight servers also required on-site inspections by sales staff and technicians from both companies.

Prosecutors did not say how Flying Tiger Technology got onto Nvidia's whitelist in February 2025. The company then declared itself the end user and said the machines would be installed in Taiwan, prosecutors allege. Albatron Technology, an authorized distributor, placed the 130-server order on Flying Tiger's behalf.

Flying Tiger presented a quotation for space at Chief Telecom rather than an actual lease. A September 2025 inspection found an operating site that lacked the racks, power and bandwidth needed for the full order. Nobody present at the inspection, prosecutors allege, flagged the missing capacity. Chang, a distribution manager at Nvidia's Taiwan office, emailed headquarters that verification was complete, and Supermicro released the servers in three tranches.

The route

Of the 74 delivered servers, 50 had passed through Indonesia, 16 had gone directly to China, and eight had moved through a defendant-controlled Japanese entity and Hong Kong. The remaining 56 of the 130 ordered were declared for export to a Japanese company, but Taiwanese customs stopped the shipment. Those machines remained in Taiwan as of August 24.

The 56-server shipment was met with a demand for a strategic high-tech commodities export permit, and the defendants applied using fake mockups of Supermicro's website spliced together from real parts of the site, prosecutors allege. The person in charge of Flying Tiger, a man surnamed Chen who remained at large as of August 24, received more than $21.2 million from reselling the 74 servers that reached China.

The charges

Eight defendants face breach-of-trust and document-forgery charges, and three also face embezzlement charges. A ninth person was charged in a related case involving funds allegedly siphoned from Albatron. Prosecutors released surnames only. The allegations are untested at trial, and no defendant has been convicted.

Violating U.S. chip export restrictions is not itself a criminal offense in Taiwan. Prosecutors instead used breach-of-trust, forgery and securities-law charges. They sought prison terms of up to five years for defendants described as "driven by the pursuit of exorbitant profits," while requesting leniency for two who confessed and cooperated. Chang was called the "key figure" responsible for "authorizing the release of the B300 GPUs" and had "demonstrated a clearly poor attitude following the offense."

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The companies

Neither Nvidia nor Supermicro was charged.

Supermicro shares fell 7% to $34.53 on Monday morning, while the iShares U.S. Technology ETF and Dell each fell 2% in the same session. Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Nvidia showed no distinct session move tied to the indictment, so the selling was concentrated in Supermicro rather than spread across AI-server hardware.

Supermicro said its cooperation with Taiwanese authorities led to the arrests of the indicted individuals, including two former employees of its Taiwan subsidiary. The company said it "continues to cooperate with Taiwan authorities, is not a target of their investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing."

Its employees have "every incentive to work diligently with customers to ensure compliance with all applicable laws," Nvidia said. It would work with Taiwanese authorities to help "resolve the allegations as quickly as possible."

Frequently Asked Questions

How many servers actually reached China?

74 of the 130 ordered. Fifty passed through Indonesia, 16 went directly to China, and eight moved through a defendant-controlled Japanese entity and Hong Kong. Taiwanese customs stopped the remaining 56, which remained in Taiwan as of August 24.

Who was indicted?

Nine people, including a distribution manager at Nvidia's Taiwan office and two sales managers at Supermicro's Taiwan branch. Eight face breach-of-trust and document-forgery charges, three of them also face embezzlement charges, and a ninth was charged in a related case involving funds siphoned from Albatron. Prosecutors released surnames only.

What controls were supposed to stop the sale?

B300-server buyers had to appear on Nvidia's whitelist, submit end-user and end-use documents, and accept a no-resale condition. Orders of more than eight servers also required on-site inspections by sales staff and technicians from both companies.

Were Nvidia and Supermicro charged?

No. Supermicro said its cooperation with Taiwanese authorities led to the arrests of the indicted individuals, including two former employees of its Taiwan subsidiary, and that it is not a target of the investigation and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. Nvidia said its employees have every incentive to work diligently with customers to ensure compliance with all applicable laws.

How did the market react?

Supermicro shares fell 7% to $34.53 on Monday morning, while the iShares U.S. Technology ETF and Dell each fell 2% in the same session. Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Nvidia showed no distinct session move tied to the indictment.

AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.

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Editor-in-Chief and founder of Implicator.ai. Former ARD correspondent and senior broadcast journalist with 10+ years covering tech. Writes daily briefings on policy and market developments. Based in San Francisco. E-mail: editor@implicator.ai