U.S. arrests head of Earthmade Computer over alleged smuggling of servers with Nvidia chips worth more than $300 million
U.S. authorities arrested Greg Lui, head of the company Earthmade Computer. According to the indictment, he participated in evading export restrictions on servers with Nvidia A100 and Nvidia H100 chips worth more than $300 million, which ultimately ended up in China.
U.S. authorities arrested Greg Lui, head of the company Earthmade Computer, over alleged evasion of export restrictions. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, he used falsified documents to conceal shipments of servers worth more than $300 million and knew that their final destination was China. The indictment involves servers with Nvidia A100 and Nvidia H100 chips; the alleged conduct is said to have taken place from October 2023 to August 2026.
Authorities base their claims on emails and bank records. According to the indictment, the shipments passed through freight forwarding companies in countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. For one order of 27 servers worth approximately $7.614 million, Malaysia was listed as the destination, but an alleged co-conspirator subsequently told a Malaysian official that all of them ended up in China. The described conduct is the subject of the charges, not proven guilt.
Why it matters
The case concerns deliveries of chips usable for training large language models. For sellers and shippers of servers, it illustrates the legal risk associated with falsified information about the buyer and the final destination of a shipment, even when the documents list a different country.
Relevant practical impact
What this means
For a business
For companies selling or shipping servers subject to export restrictions, the case highlights the risk of criminal prosecution for participating in concealing the actual buyer or final destination.
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Event sources
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