US Charges California Man Over Alleged $300M Nvidia Chip Smuggling Scheme to China
US prosecutors have charged Greg Lui, 38, with allegedly smuggling around $300 million worth of Nvidia hardware to China without required export licenses. The high-performance chips, including A100, H100 and GeForce RTX models, are widely used to train artificial intelligence systems, and the US government restricts their sale to countries it views as strategic rivals.
According to court documents, Lui allegedly used his company to purchase the hardware in the US, then shipped it to transshipment companies in Malaysia and Singapore, countries that do not require Commerce Department export licenses, where it was forwarded on to China. Prosecutors allege the scheme ran from around October 2023 until at least August 2026, and that Lui received more than $176 million in payments for connecting Malaysian firms with US suppliers.
US officials describe the case as part of a broader effort to stop advanced chips from accelerating rival nations' AI capabilities. While this case centres on a large-scale, government-level smuggling operation rather than a direct threat to small businesses, it highlights how tightly regulated advanced computing hardware has become and the legal risks facing any business involved in international hardware supply chains.