Taiwanese authorities indicted nine individuals for allegedly illegally exporting AI servers to China, tightening enforcement of semiconductor export controls.

Taiwan prosecutors indicted nine individuals on Monday, including employees of Nvidia and Super Micro, accused of illegally exporting artificial intelligence servers to China. Earlier this year, prosecutors investigated the suspected illegal export of servers equipped with Nvidia chips subject to United States export controls. As the world’s largest producer of advanced chips used in AI applications, Taiwan has been the focus of these probes.

Washington has imposed curbs since 2022 making it illegal for such semiconductors to be exported or sold in China. In a statement, prosecutors in the northern port city of Keelung said the defendants, whose full names they did not state, were “fully aware” that both Nvidia and Super Micro have “rigorous internal control procedures” regarding exports. However, the defendants “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,” they added.

Neither Nvidia nor Super Micro immediately responded to requests for comment. Taiwan has tightened export controls in recent years to keep advanced technology and know-how from reaching China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory despite the strong objections of the island's government.