KEELUNG — Taiwanese authorities busted a smuggling ring that used Japan as a waypoint to funnel Super Micro Computer servers loaded with restricted Nvidia H200 AI chips into China. The operation led to the arrest of three suspects and the seizure of approximately 50 servers valued at more than US$15 million.

On May 20, Taiwan’s coast guard searched 12 locations, including the suspects’ residences and affiliated companies, confiscating the servers along with mobile phones, computers, account books, luxury cars, and NT$9 million in cash. The suspects—identified by the surnames You, Wang, and Chen—allegedly conspired to purchase dozens of servers in Taiwan, each priced above NT$10 million (US$312,000), and ship them from a northern port using falsified cargo descriptions.

According to prosecutors, the defendants used falsified export documents that listed a Northeast Asian country as the destination. It was the first known case in which smugglers used Japan as a transit point for this type of scheme. At least one shipment had already passed through Japan and reached Hong Kong, with investigators suspecting mainland China as the final destination. A second planned shipment was intercepted before leaving Taiwan.

The suspects allegedly knew the servers were subject to strict U.S. export controls that prohibit their sale to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Super Micro, which builds AI servers powered by Nvidia’s most advanced chips including the H200, confirmed its cooperation with Taiwanese authorities. “Our collaboration with authorities in Taiwan resulted in the arrest of three suspects and the seizure of 50 servers that had been deceptively acquired after being sold by Supermicro to an authorized reseller,” the company said in a statement.

Super Micro added, “Supermicro is committed to protecting our advanced technologies and intellectual property, and we are proud to have worked closely with Taiwanese authorities on the recent event, helping to prevent the illicit diversion of our highly sought-after systems into the restricted China market.” Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, during a visit to Taipei on May 23, said, “Ultimately, Super Micro has to run their own company. I hope that they will enhance and improve their regulation compliance and avoid that from happening in the future.”