Bloomberg: 3 Taiwanese arrested for smuggling NVIDIA AI chips to China via Japan

Prosecutors have arrested three individuals for illegally attempting to export servers equipped with high-end NVIDIA AI chips to China. According to foreign media, the suspects shipped the servers to Japan before forwarding them to China, with at least one shipment successfully reaching its destination. This may be the first case of an AI chip smuggling route using Japan as a transit point. Bloomberg reported that three individuals, including a man surnamed Yu, were detained by the Keelung District Prosecutors Office for filing false documents to ship high-end Supermicro AI servers to China. These servers are subject to strict US export controls, which prohibit their sale to China without authorization. Prosecutors seized about 50 servers during the arrests. Since 2022, the US has implemented export controls to prevent Beijing from using advanced AI technology to strengthen its military, and has urged Taiwan to be more proactive in preventing the transfer of key technologies.