Tech Executive Arrested for Allegedly Smuggling $300M in Nvidia AI Chips to China

Greg Lui, owner of Earthmade Computer Inc., was arrested on a three-count federal indictment for allegedly smuggling more than $300M in export-controlled servers to China. Prosecutors claim the scheme utilized false documentation to route Nvidia $NVDA hardware through Malaysia and Singapore to circumvent U.S. Commerce Department licenses. Between January and October 2024, Earthmade received more than $176M from two Malaysian shipment companies involved in the alleged transshipment network. The Justice Department detailed one specific $7.6M order for 27 servers containing H100 GPUs that were shipped from Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur before reaching a Chinese buyer. "This defendant allegedly used false paperwork and shipments through third countries to smuggle more than $300 million in export-controlled computer servers to China." — Bill Essayli