US authorities are investigating how Nvidia failed to prevent its restricted AI chips from reaching China. The inquiry follows a Bloomberg report from October 1, 2026, which highlighted instances of server labels being removed to bypass export controls.
On October 1, 2026, US officials arrested Greg Lui on charges of smuggling and money laundering. Prosecutors allege he trafficked servers containing Nvidia chips worth over $300 million to China between 2023 and 2024.
This follows a March 2026 indictment of three individuals linked to Super Micro Computer for a separate scheme involving $510 million in servers. Combined, these cases involve over $800 million in hardware diverted to China.
A September 2026 report by C4ADS identified smuggling routes through Malaysia and Vietnam. In March 2026, Senators Jim Banks and Elizabeth Warren requested that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick review Nvidia’s export licenses.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has denied the allegations. The US export restrictions, which target high-performance GPUs like the H100 and H200, were first introduced in 2022 to limit China's technological and military advancement.
