Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun, a third-party broker charged in the illegal diversion of Nvidia AI chips to China, has pleaded guilty under an agreement with prosecutors. Sun’s sentencing is scheduled for September 8, 2027. He was charged alongside Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw and sales manager Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang.
The scheme involved shipping Super Micro servers containing Nvidia chips to a Southeast Asian company, which created dummy servers for inspectors and used hair dryers to remove serial numbers from the real hardware. The servers were then routed through a Thailand-based corporation, reportedly reaching Chinese tech giant Alibaba. Alibaba has denied receiving the hardware, and Super Micro has said it had no knowledge of the operation, even as shareholders sued the company over alleged dependence on illicit sales.
The defendants’ positions differ sharply: Sun has admitted guilt, Liaw has pleaded not guilty and is set for trial on November 2, and Chang remains at large. Taiwanese authorities have also raided Super Micro offices and indicted nine more people in connection with the smuggling, underscoring a broader crackdown on unauthorized AI chip exports to China.