By TOI Tech Desk
Publication Date: 2025-12-09 12:24:00
US authorities have dismantled a sophisticated smuggling network that illegally exported advanced Nvidia artificial intelligence chips worth over $160 million to China and other restricted locations, resulting in the arrest of multiple business executives and guilty pleas from a Houston-based company.Operation Gatekeeper, announced Tuesday by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, exposed a complex scheme involving falsified shipping documents, shell companies, and wire transfers originating from China. The investigation seized more than $50 million in advanced graphics processing units destined for prohibited destinations.Alan Hao Hsu, owner of Missouri City-based Hao Global LLC, pleaded guilty in October to smuggling export-controlled Nvidia H100 and H200 chips between October 2024 and May 2025. Court documents reveal Hsu and associates misclassified shipments and concealed their ultimate destinations to circumvent export restrictions. Hsu faces up to 10 years in federal prison at his February 18 sentencing.