Supermicro exec exits after $2.5B chip smuggling allegation
Supermicro faces allegations that employees smuggled about $2.5 billion of Nvidia hardware to China using serial‑number swapping and dummy servers; a director has exited the board after charges surfaced. The case underlines mounting legal and operational risks around hardware authentication and export controls. (investing.com, startupnews.fyi, alltoc.com)
An indictment unsealed March 19, 2026 names Yih‑Shyan “Wally” Liaw, Ruei‑Tsang “Steven” Chang and Ting‑Wei “Willy” Sun as defendants in the federal case. (justice.gov) The Department of Justice said Liaw (a U.S. citizen) and Sun (a Taiwanese national) were arrested and will be presented in the Northern District of California, while Chang (a Taiwanese national) remains at large. (justice.gov) Prosecutors describe a scheme that allegedly relied on false documents, a Southeast Asian middleman and “convoluted transshipment” routes to obscure the true destination of U.S.‑assembled servers, according to the DOJ release. (justice.gov) Supermicro issued a statement saying the company is not named as a defendant, has placed the two employees on administrative leave, has terminated its relationship with the contractor, and on March 20 appointed DeAnna Luna as acting chief compliance officer. (supermicro.com) Market reaction was severe: Reuters reported Supermicro shares fell about 27% on March 20, while Bloomberg described the selloff as erasing roughly a third of the company’s value, wiping billions off market capitalization. (finance.yahoo.com) Court filings show Liaw made an initial appearance in the Northern District of California and was released on an unsecured bond with a bond hearing scheduled, and Sun’s initial hearing and a subsequent detention hearing were also docketed. (cnbc.com) Reporting by industry outlets places portions of the alleged diversion in 2024–2025—including roughly $510 million in sales between late April and mid‑May 2025—and notes Liaw held an estimated $464 million in Supermicro shares per FactSet figures cited by Forbes. (uk.finance.yahoo.com)
