Taiwan moves to detain three over alleged illegal high-end AI server exports to China

This article was published on May 21, 2026 The investigation is the island’s first formal semiconductor-smuggling crackdown and ties back to the wider Supermicro-linked diversion network that has been routing Nvidia Hopper systems into Chinese customers through Hong Kong and third-country relays. Taiwanese prosecutors are seeking the detention of three individuals over the alleged use of forged documents to export high-end Nvidia AI chips to China, Reuters reported on Thursday. The case is, on the available framing, the first formal Taiwanese crackdown on semiconductor smuggling and a calibrated response to growing US pressure on the island’s export-control regime. The named individuals connect to the wider Supermicro-linked diversion network US prosecutors have been mapping across the past year. The Register’s coverage of the March 2026 charges names Supermicro co-founder Yih-Shyan ‘Wally’ Liaw, Supermicro Taiwan sales manager Ruei-Tsang ‘Steven’ Chang, and third-party broker Ting-Wei ‘Willy’ Sun as the operators of the alleged scheme. The network was using falsified documentation and dummy server shells to conceal shipments of Nvidia Hopper-based AI servers into Chinese end-custo