Taiwan government agencies raided the offices of Super Micro Computer?and several of its local affiliates, deepening an investigation into the alleged smuggling of Nvidia?chips into China using the company¡¯s servers.
Local investigators raided the residences of six people and the sites of three affiliated companies on Monday as part of an ongoing probe into the allegedly illegal export of Super Micro¡¯s servers, Taiwan¡¯s Keelung District Prosecutors Office said in a statement. While the agency did not provide the names of those searched, Super Micro¡¯s Taiwan office was among them, a person familiar with the situation said, asking not to be identified because the information isn¡¯t public.
Shares of Super Micro, which said it¡¯s cooperating with authorities, fell 8% in U.S. trading. The raids mark an expansion of Taiwan¡¯s first public crackdown on artificial intelligence chip diversion after years of pressure from Washington to take a more active role in curtailing China¡¯s access to technology. The U.S. has for years restricted exports of advanced components such as Nvidia. AI chips to China over concerns that the hardware ¡ª the vast majority of which is produced in Taiwan ¡ª could benefit Beijing¡¯s military efforts.
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