Super Micro Contractor Pleads Guilty in $2.5 Billion Nvidia Chip Smuggling Scheme

A former contractor for Super Micro Computer pleaded guilty Thursday to his role in a $2.5 billion scheme to illegally divert advanced Nvidia AI servers to China, marking a major enforcement action against the circumvention of U.S. export controls. Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, 44, entered a guilty plea in federal court in Manhattan to charges of conspiracy to violate the Export Controls Reform Act, smuggling goods, and defrauding the United States. Prosecutors charged Sun alongside Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, 71, the company's co-founder and senior vice president of business development, and Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang, 53, a sales manager based in Taiwan, in March 2026 with coordinating a conspiracy to secretly divert billions of dollars worth of cutting-edge U.S. AI servers to Chinese customers in violation of federal export restrictions.