Nvidia senior manager linked to Supermicro scheme smuggling AI servers to China
Nvidia senior manager linked to Supermicro scheme smuggling AI servers to China
英伟达高管卷入超微电脑（Supermicro）非法向中国走私 AI 服务器案
Taiwan has indicted nine people—reportedly including an Nvidia senior manager and two Supermicro employees based in the country—who allegedly helped forge documents to cover up illegal exports of high-end AI servers to China in violation of US export controls. 台湾地区已起诉九人，据报道其中包括一名英伟达（Nvidia）高级经理和两名超微电脑（Supermicro）驻台员工。这些人涉嫌伪造文件，以掩盖违反美国出口管制、向中国非法出口高端 AI 服务器的行为。
On Monday, Reuters reported that prosecutors in Keelung did not release any names but confirmed that the suspects were “charged with breach of trust and document forgery.” One suspect linked to a related case remains at large, accused of the “siphoning of funds from a distributor company involved” in helping China get access to restricted Nvidia chips. 周一，路透社报道称，基隆检察官并未公布具体姓名，但证实这些嫌疑人被“控以背信罪和伪造文书罪”。另有一名与相关案件有关的嫌疑人在逃，其被指控从一家协助中国获取受限英伟达芯片的经销商公司中“挪用资金”。
Since 2022, the US has required a license to export semiconductors to China, with the intent of protecting national security by staying ahead of China in the AI race. But after the US arrested Supermicro co-founder Wally Liaw in March for allegedly funneling $2.5 billion in restricted AI servers to China since 2024, Taiwan launched a separate probe to learn more about the scheme. 自 2022 年以来，美国要求向中国出口半导体必须获得许可，旨在通过在 AI 竞赛中保持领先地位来保护国家安全。但在今年 3 月美国逮捕了超微电脑联合创始人廖益贤（Wally Liaw），指控其自 2024 年起向中国输送价值 25 亿美元的受限 AI 服务器后，台湾地区启动了独立调查以深入了解该计划。
Taiwan’s investigation found that co-conspirators attempted to falsify documents to make it appear that 130 B300 servers were installed and in use at a Taiwan facility. But 74 of those servers “were ultimately exported and delivered to Chinese customers,” Reuters reported, while the rest, 56, were intended to go to China but were blocked once Taiwanese customs officials “detected irregularities.” Ars could not reach Supermicro or Nvidia for comment. 台湾的调查发现，共谋者试图伪造文件，制造出 130 台 B300 服务器已在台湾某设施安装并投入使用的假象。据路透社报道，其中 74 台服务器“最终被出口并交付给了中国客户”，而其余 56 台本打算运往中国，但在台湾海关官员“发现异常”后被拦截。Ars 无法联系到超微电脑或英伟达置评。
Huang urged Supermicro to “fix” problem
黄仁勋敦促超微电脑“解决”问题
In a statement to PC Mag, Supermicro has previously confirmed that it’s cooperating with Taiwanese investigators. “Supermicro is committed to protecting our advanced technologies and intellectual property. We are working closely with Taiwanese authorities on recent events, which underscore the importance of continued collaboration across industry and government to strengthen safeguards, enhance supply chain visibility, and facilitate the enforcement of export control laws,” Supermicro said. 在给《PC Mag》的一份声明中，超微电脑此前已确认正在配合台湾调查人员的工作。超微电脑表示：“超微电脑致力于保护我们的先进技术和知识产权。我们正就近期事件与台湾当局密切合作，这些事件凸显了行业与政府持续协作的重要性，以加强保障措施、提高供应链透明度，并促进出口管制法律的执行。”
The firm is not a target of the probe, Supermicro emphasized, which so far has targeted at least 12 locations to uncover suspected smugglers. Although US employees are believed to be integral to the scheme, Lauren Barden-Hair, an expert in China’s power over multinational firms across Southeast Asia, posted an op-ed in The Hill, noting that the US found that “a nameless Southeast Asian firm” was “at the heart of the operation.” 超微电脑强调，该公司并非此次调查的目标。目前调查已覆盖至少 12 个地点，旨在查明涉嫌走私的人员。尽管外界认为美国员工在该计划中不可或缺，但东南亚跨国企业影响力专家劳伦·巴登-海尔（Lauren Barden-Hair）在《国会山报》发表评论文章指出，美国发现“一家未具名的东南亚公司”处于“该行动的核心”。
That firm allegedly coordinated with co-conspirators at Supermicro and Nvidia, succeeding for years at ensuring that China wasn’t completely blocked from accessing Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips. Both US firms will likely need to assess the steps they take to comply with US export controls. 据称，该公司与超微电脑和英伟达的共谋者进行协调，多年来成功确保中国并未被完全切断获取英伟达最先进 AI 芯片的途径。这两家美国公司可能都需要评估其遵守美国出口管制的措施。
In May, before any Nvidia employees were linked directly to the scheme, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was highly critical of Supermicro for its failing compliance program, urging that a fix was needed, Tom’s Hardware reported. “We insist our partners are compliant. We hope that they will enhance and improve their regulation compliance and prevent that from happening in the future,” Huang said at the time. 据《Tom’s Hardware》报道，今年 5 月，在任何英伟达员工与该计划直接挂钩之前，英伟达首席执行官黄仁勋就曾严厉批评超微电脑的合规计划存在漏洞，并敦促其必须进行整改。黄仁勋当时表示：“我们坚持要求合作伙伴合规。我们希望他们能加强和改进合规监管，防止此类事件再次发生。”
Supermicro has confirmed that it has already made changes. It also fired several employees that an internal investigation connected to the Chinese AI server scheme, Tom’s Hardware reported. Conducted by a third party, that probe cleared Supermicro’s current senior officials of any involvement. However, the company may have been neglectful in not noticing that “billions of dollars’ worth of hardware was being sent to questionable clients,” Tom’s Hardware noted. 据《Tom’s Hardware》报道，超微电脑已确认其已做出调整，并解雇了内部调查中与中国 AI 服务器计划有关的几名员工。该调查由第三方进行，排除了超微电脑现任高管的参与。然而，《Tom’s Hardware》指出，该公司未能察觉“价值数十亿美元的硬件被发送给可疑客户”，可能存在疏忽。
Spooked investors have even sued Supermicro for securities fraud, fearing that the company’s sales may be dominated by such illicit sales. Taiwanese prosecutors said that all employees indicted were “fully aware” that Nvidia and Supermicro have “rigorous internal control procedures” regarding exports to China, Reuters reported. 受惊的投资者甚至以证券欺诈为由起诉了超微电脑，担心该公司的销售额可能主要由此类非法销售构成。据路透社报道，台湾检察官表示，所有被起诉的员工都“完全知晓”英伟达和超微电脑在对华出口方面拥有“严格的内部控制程序”。
The US and Taiwan have recently tightened those controls, prosecutors said, yet employees’ scheme only got more brazen, Barden-Hair’s op-ed suggested. Supermicro’s team allegedly was so confident that it could evade US and Taiwanese export controls that it made “increasingly daring deals” to get China the computing power it wanted. 检察官称，美国和台湾近期收紧了这些管制措施，但巴登-海尔的文章指出，员工的计划反而变得更加猖獗。据称，超微电脑的团队对规避美台出口管制充满信心，以至于进行了“越来越大胆的交易”，以满足中国对计算能力的需求。
Taiwan officials announced that they recently uncovered more of the same misconduct. They alleged that Nvidia’s manager and Supermicro employees “colluded with one another at various levels for enormous profit, illegally exporting high-end servers, increasing corporate compliance costs, and severely damaging our nation’s international image,” Taiwan authorities said Monday. 台湾官员周一宣布，他们近期又发现了更多此类不当行为。他们指控英伟达的经理和超微电脑的员工“在各个层面相互勾结以牟取暴利，非法出口高端服务器，增加了企业合规成本，并严重损害了我国的国际形象。”
US may cut off China’s remote access to AI
美国或将切断中国对 AI 的远程访问
The US is determined to cut off China’s access to Nvidia’s AI chips and servers, and it seems to be taking a two-prong approach to tighten controls even further. First, lawmakers are weighing a bill called the Remote Access Security Act (RASA), which would allow US export controls to extend to include remote cloud-based access to critical hardware and software, CNBC reported. 美国决心切断中国获取英伟达 AI 芯片和服务器的途径，并似乎正在采取双管齐下的策略进一步收紧管制。据 CNBC 报道，首先，立法者正在权衡一项名为《远程访问安全法案》（RASA）的法案，该法案将允许美国出口管制范围扩大到包括对关键硬件和软件的远程云端访问。
Passing that law would allow rule-making that could cut China off from exploiting a known loophole that currently impedes the US from interfering with its remote access to Nvidia chips via data centers in Southeast Asia. According to industry experts, remote access to computing power is a key factor driving Chinese models’ capability gains for companies including Alibaba, ByteDance, and Tencent, CNBC reported. 通过该法案将允许制定相关规则，从而阻止中国利用一个已知的漏洞——该漏洞目前阻碍了美国干预中国通过东南亚数据中心远程访问英伟达芯片。据 CNBC 报道，行业专家认为，远程访问计算能力是推动阿里巴巴、字节跳动和腾讯等中国公司模型能力提升的关键因素。
And China will apparently soon have more data centers nearby to potentially expand remote access to compute, as hyperscalers plan to multiply the number of facilities in the region, leaping from two data centers today to 31 planned projects underway. That bill will likely face industry pushback, CNBC suggested, since cloud providers would bear the cost of that new compliance regime, including… 显然，中国很快将在周边拥有更多数据中心，从而可能扩大对计算能力的远程访问。随着超大规模云服务商计划在该地区增加设施数量，从目前的两个数据中心跃升至正在规划中的 31 个项目。CNBC 指出，该法案可能会面临行业的抵制，因为云服务提供商将承担这一新合规制度的成本，包括……