DOJ charges California tech CEO Greg Lui with smuggling $300M+ in Nvidia-powered AI servers to China via Malaysia/Singapore
What happened
The Justice Department announced Thursday that Greg Lui, 38 (a.k.a. Yiu Kong Lui), owner of San Gabriel Valley-based Earthmade Computer Inc., was arrested on a three-count federal indictment charging him with smuggling more than $300 million worth of export-controlled high-end computer servers — containing U.S.-manufactured Nvidia GPUs commonly used for super-intelligence applications, reportedly H100-class hardware — to China. Prosecutors allege that from 2023 to 2024, Lui used false paperwork, dummy servers, and shipments routed through Malaysia and Singapore to illegally re-export the hardware to China without required Commerce Department licenses; over $176 million allegedly flowed from two Malaysia-based companies. Lui was charged with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, outbound smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, facing up to 50 years in prison, and was arraigned Friday. The FBI said Lui 'allegedly sold the Chinese government hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of American Super Intelligence technology.'
Why it matters & what’s next are part of Pro, along with the audio summary.
Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- Nvidia (NVDA) — exposure is reputational/regulatory, not financial: its H100-class GPUs were the smuggled hardware, and Bloomberg says officials question why Nvidia missed warning signs. No accusation against the company. Stock was up 1.9% Friday to ~$235, hitting a record intraday high, so the market is not punishing it.
- Server/AI hardware distributors — a high-profile prosecution raises compliance and know-your-customer scrutiny costs across the AI supply chain.
- China-exposed semiconductor names broadly — reinforces that Washington's enforcement posture is escalating, not relaxing.