Tag Archives: Nvidia CEO

For the Love of Motherland: the Case of Super Micro Computer

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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

Nationalizing a Crown Jewel: the case of Nexperia

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U.S. officials’ warning to their Dutch counterparts was stark: If they wanted a Netherlands-based chip maker to avoid being put on a trade blacklist, it would almost certainly have to remove its Chinese owner as CEO. “The fact that the company’s CEO is still that same Chinese owner is problematic,” American officials said in a June 2025 meeting on the topic. The Americans soon got their wish. In September 25, 2025, the Dutch economy ministry seized control of Nexperia from China’s Wingtech Technology. The next day, a Dutch court granted an emergency petition to suspend Wingtech founder Zhang Xuezheng as Nexperia’s CEO and put all but one of the semiconductor company’s shares under external management.

China quickly fired back at the seizure, ordering Wingtech in early October to suspend exports of Nexperia of chips that the company has long sent for packaging and testing in China…The Dutch economy minister said in a letter to parliament that he moved to seize control of Nexperia based on evidence that the CEO was moving quickly to shift production capacity, financial resources and intellectual property to China, not because of pressure from any other country… The Dutch government and Dutch and German executives of the company had tried for months to ringfence the company’s business from Chinese control to accommodate domestic concerns—and avoid being hit by the U.S. blacklist… Dutch officials told Nexperia that the coming expansion of U.S. trade restrictions could lead to restrictions on the business, unless measures were taken to limit the transfer of knowledge and capabilities to China.

In the past, Nexperia relied on its European factories and contract manufacturers in Taiwan to make chips for China. In 2020, Zhang set up a wafer factory in Shanghai. The business, called Wingskysemi, started production in 2023 and has become one of Nexperia’s key suppliers….

Excerpt from Sam Schechner et al, , How U.S. Pressured Netherlands to Oust CEO of Chinese-Owned Chip Maker, WSJ, Oct. 14, 2025

Nvidia CEO Has a Magic Needle

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Nvidia’s market share in China fell to 50% from 95% over the past four years under U.S. restrictions, Huang, Nvidia’s CEO,  said in May 2025.  He visited China at least three times in 2025 to reassure Chinese tech executives and government officials that Nvidia was committed to the market…. Huang has met with top executives of Chinese cloud-computing leader Alibaba, smartphone and automaker Xiaomi and OpenAI challenger MiniMax.People in China’s tech industry said they appreciated Huang’s efforts to modify his chips so they could be sold in China. Engineers there nicknamed him “Magic Tailor” for his skill in designing chips to thread the needle of U.S. regulations.

Knowing the importance of the Chinese market to Nvidia, Beijing increased pressure on the company: China’s cybersecurity regulator recently summoned Nvidia representatives to discuss alleged security risks of the H20 chips, citing comments by U.S. lawmakers about the need for a bill to require tracking capabilities for advanced chips sold abroad….

Excerpt from Lingling Wei et al, With Billions at Risk, Nvidia CEO Buys His Way Out of the Trade Battle, WSJ, Aug. 11, 2025