Taiwanese prosecutors on Monday charged nine people, including an Nvidia employee and two individuals linked to Super Micro Computer, with illegally exporting high-end artificial intelligence servers to mainland China, adding to tensions in the technology rivalry between China and the United States.
Prosecutors said the servers contained B300 graphics processing units, which are banned from being sold to China.
According to prosecutors, 74 of the servers were successfully delivered to China. Fifty were shipped through Indonesia, while 16 were sent directly to China. Another eight were routed through Japan and Hong Kong before reaching mainland China.
Another attempted shipment involving 56 servers was unsuccessful, with the equipment remaining in Taiwan, according to the prosecutor’s office.
AI infrastructure, including advanced semiconductors largely manufactured in Taiwan, has emerged as a major battleground in the technology rivalry between the United States and China. Washington began restricting Nvidia’s exports of advanced chips to China in 2022 and has tightened the controls in subsequent years.
In April 2025, the US introduced licensing requirements for Nvidia’s H20 chip exports to China, although some sales were later allowed to resume.
Under the export control regime, Nvidia must undergo a strict review process for any sale of high-end AI servers — the computing infrastructure that houses the chips used to power artificial intelligence systems — according to a document from Taiwan’s Keelung District Prosecutors Office.
The document also stated that purchases involving more than eight high-end AI servers require company employees to conduct on-site inspections of the clients.
“We will work with the Taiwan authorities to help them resolve the allegations as quickly as possible,” Patrick Rutherford, an Nvidia spokesperson, said in a written statement.
Super Micro said in a written statement that the arrests of two former employees resulted from the company’s cooperation with Taiwanese authorities.
The company added that it would continue strengthening its export compliance programme to safeguard American technological innovation.
