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Chips

Executive arrested for allegedly diverting export-restricted Nvidia chips to China

US authorities accuse Greg Lui, head of Earthmade Computer, of using false paperwork to hide shipments of servers worth more than $300 million whose final destination was China, according to Ars Technica.

1 min readOnly reported by Ars Technica

The essentials

3 according to the source · 3 open questions

  • According to the sourceThe US has arrested Greg Lui, 38, chief executive of Earthmade Computer, according to Ars Technica.1
  • According to the sourceThe charges say he falsified documents to hide shipments of servers worth more than $300 million whose final destination was China, according to Ars Technica.1
  • According to the sourceAccording to the charges, the servers contained Nvidia's A100 and H100 chips, which are not the company's most advanced but are subject to export restrictions, according to Ars Technica.1

Why it matters

These chips are used to train the AI programs that generate text. The US fears that, with enough of them, China could speed up its AI or strengthen its military1. The case suggests the ban is being sidestepped through third countries, and Ars Technica speaks of "another" arrest1.

The details

According to Ars Technica, the charges say Lui teamed up with freight companies in other Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Singapore, so that the shipments would end up in China1. According to the charges, the servers, which are powerful computers for data centers, contained Nvidia's A100 and H100 chips1. They are not the company's most advanced, but the US restricts their export1.

What we don't know

  • How Greg Lui responds to the charges: the source does not include his side or that of Earthmade Computer.
  • How many chips actually reached China and who received them.
  • Whether Nvidia knew anything about these shipments: the source does not say it is accused of anything.

How this story has changed

  1. Correction: the headline said "banned", but these are export-restricted chips. The introduction said the executive sent the servers to China; the accusation is that he falsified documents to hide shipments with that final destination. That the servers contained A100 and H100 chips is what the charges say, not an established fact. The countries named by the source have been added.
  2. We published the story.

Sources

  1. 1US arrests tech CEO accused of smuggling $300M in Nvidia chips into ChinaArs Technica · News outlet · 2 October 2026

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This story was written in Spanish by an artificial intelligence system from the sources listed above, and translated automatically. Before publication, a program checks that every figure and every name appears in the sources, and that the translation keeps the same facts, figures and sources. It has not been reviewed by a person. Spanish original · How we work (in Spanish)