By Michael Kan
Publication Date: 2026-03-25 22:06:00
The US has disclosed a new Nvidia chip-smuggling case that also seems to involve San Jose-based server manufacturer Supermicro. It comes days after a Supermicro co-founder was arrested in a separate investigation, but in this instance, it looks like Nvidia and Supermicro played a role in foiling the attempted smuggling.
The Justice Department today announced it had charged three suspects, one Chinese national from Hong Kong and two US citizens, for trying to smuggle the export-controlled chips to China using pass-through companies in Thailand. The 56-year-old Chinese national, Stanley Yi Zheng, allegedly began conspiring with Americans Matthew Kelly and Tommy Shad English about smuggling the chips to China in May 2023.
The DOJ did not name Nvidia or Supermicro in the announcement or the criminal complaint. But the 41-page criminal complaint references the trio attempting to smuggle hundreds of Nvidia A100 and H100 chips. The official announcement of the charges also includes screenshots of messages the suspects sent that also mention the enterprise GPUs.
(Credit: DOJ)
In addition, the criminal complaint says the three suspects attempted to buy the Nvidia GPUs from a “computer hardware and services company” based in San Jose. A screenshot shows that Zheng allegedly sent a purchase order for 232 server units of a model dubbed “SYS-821GE-TNHR,” a Supermicro product that supports Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs. The total cost of the…
