AI news · Nvidia · export controls
US charges a California man over $300 million in Nvidia chips
Prosecutors say Greg Lui routed servers with restricted Nvidia AI chips to China through Malaysia and Singapore, using false paperwork.
Federal prosecutors have arrested and charged Greg Lui, the 38-year-old owner of California’s Earthmade Computer, with smuggling servers that held about $300 million of restricted Nvidia AI chips to buyers in China, Bloomberg reported on 2 October 2026. He faces counts of conspiracy to break US export controls, outbound smuggling and conspiracy to launder money.
According to the charges, the servers went first to Malaysia and Singapore, where no licence is needed for advanced AI chips, and then on to China. False documents told US suppliers the equipment would stay in those countries. In one order cited by prosecutors, Lui bought 27 servers with Nvidia H100 chips for about $7.6 million.
The Register lists A100, H100, RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 graphics cards among the hardware and says prosecutors trace more than $176 million paid to Lui by Malaysian transshipment companies. Nvidia did not immediately comment, Bloomberg says. The case follows charges brought in March 2026 against a Super Micro Computer co-founder, who pleaded not guilty.
For anyone buying AI compute, export enforcement keeps reaching server resellers, the layer between chip makers and the clouds.
Sources
- The Register: Californian accused of shipping $300M worth of Nvidia chips to China without Uncle Sam’s approval. Checked
- Free Malaysia Today (Bloomberg): Man charged by US over illegal shipment of Nvidia chips to China. Checked
Alexandre S.
Alexandre S. is a creative strategist and copywriter with ten years in content and SEO. He writes and edits short-form ads, works in English and French, and reads the pricing and terms pages behind every tool on this site before anything is written about it.
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