Wally Liaw is the co-founder of server maker Super Micro Computer whose servers contain high-powered Nvidia artificial-intelligence processors. Federal prosecutors say Liaw, 71, helped Chinese customers get $2.5 billion of those servers in violation of U.S. export-control laws. The indictment puts Liaw and Super Micro in the middle of the tech war between the U.S. and China. Based on the indictment Liaw facilitate the shipment of servers containing advanced Nvidia chips, a total $510 million worth of servers, to an Asian pass-through company. All these servers were diverted to China.

Prosecutors also described elaborate efforts to avoid detection. Executives including Liaw allegedly corresponded about bringing in 100 people, including forklift operators, and arranging meals and a 20-person shuttle bus to help stage dummy servers in warehouses before auditors came through. Prosecutors published photos showing one of Liaw’s deputies with an assistant who they said used a hair dryer to remove and affix labels and serial-number stickers to shipping boxes. The goal was to persuade inspectors, including one from the U.S. Commerce Department, that they were looking at genuine Super Micro servers with Nvidia chips inside. Liaw’s team took photographs of the staged servers to send to one of Super Micro’s compliance auditors, who was off-site enjoying entertainment paid for by the Asian pass-through company, the indictment says.

Excerpt from Robbie Whelan et al.,The Silicon Valley Salesman Accused of Helping China Get Nvidia’s Top Chips, WSJ, Mar. 21, 2026