Chinese residents apprehended in the United States for alleged GPU trafficking, valued at tens of millions of dollars - identified through more than twenty shipments of artificial intelligence processors and multiple underground transactions.
In a significant development, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced the arrest of two Chinese nationals, Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang, on charges of exporting high-performance AI chips to China without the necessary license or authorization.
The arrests, made on August 2, are related to a federal criminal complaint alleging that the two individuals violated the Export Control Reform Act. Yang remains in custody due to their illegal status in the U.S., having overstayed their visa. Geng was released on a $250,000 bond.
The company allegedly involved in this operation is ALX Solutions Inc., which was set up after the Commerce Department started requiring licenses for the same goods that Yang and Geng are accused of exporting. The company is said to have shipped the sensitive microchips to transshipment points in Singapore and Malaysia, known for smuggling GPUs into China.
According to the charges, ALX Solutions never received payments from the entities they were allegedly selling the goods to, but rather received "numerous payments" from companies in Hong Kong and China. One of the payments received was worth $1 million in January 2024.
The specific AI GPU chip model allegedly exported by the defendants is not explicitly named in the U.S. Department of Justice press release or related news articles. The documents state that the shipments contained high-powered graphics processing units (GPUs) used for artificial intelligence applications, which required an export license to China, but no exact model or brand of the GPU chip is specified.
The chips, if confirmed to be the Nvidia H100 or B200, given their description as powerful AI chips, could be the most powerful GPU chip on the market, designed specifically for AI applications. If found guilty, Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang face up to 20 years in prison.
An August 12 detention hearing has been set for Shiwei Yang, and the arraignment for both defendants is scheduled for September 11. The case is a reminder of the importance of adhering to export control regulations to protect sensitive technology from falling into the wrong hands.
Readers are encouraged to follow Tom's Hardware on Google News for updates on this case. Law enforcement has also seized phones containing incriminating communications from the offices of ALX Solutions, providing a potential treasure trove of evidence in the ongoing investigation.
- The federal criminal complaint, pertaining to the arrest of Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang, involves the exportation of high-performance AI chips to China, which is a form of artificial-intelligence technology.
- In the context of the general-news, the case of the two Chinese nationals, Geng and Yang, accused of illegally exporting AI chips, underscores the importance of crime-and-justice legislation like the Export Control Reform Act, especially in relation to advanced technology like artificial-intelligence.
