엔비디아와 인텔의 핵심 공급업체이자 대만 PCB 제조사 유니미크론이 관세 회피를 위해 중국산 보드를 대만산으로 위조 라벨링했다는 혐의로 조사 중이며, 최대 40%의 벌금 부과 가능성이 있다.

Taiwanese prosecutors are investigating Unimicron, one of the world’s largest printed circuit board (PCB) and chip substrate manufacturers and a key supplier to Nvidia, Intel, Google, and Amazon. According to Nikkei Asia, the probe centers on allegations that the company shipped China-made PCBs back to Taiwan, relabeled them as Taiwanese products, and exported them under false origins. On August 28, investigators raided Unimicron’s headquarters in Taoyuan’s Guishan District and a manufacturing plant in the Zhongli District. Authorities questioned 14 employees as suspects—including the general and deputy general managers of its PCB division—and four additional individuals as witnesses.

Prosecutors allege the conduct violates Articles 216, 210, and 255 of Taiwan’s Criminal Code, which address the use of forged private documents and the false labeling of a product’s country of origin. Wang, identified as the PCB department’s general manager, was released on NT$15 million (approximately $473,000) bail. Deputy general manager Wu posted NT$12 million (roughly $378,000). Three other suspects posted bail ranging from NT$300,000 to NT$5 million, while the remaining nine were released without bail. “There was strong suspicion that they had violated Taiwan's law covering the use of forged private documents and false labeling of goods,” the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office stated in a press release. In a filing with the Taiwan stock exchange, Unimicron confirmed it is fully cooperating with the investigation and does not anticipate a material impact on its operations.

The timing of the raid aligns with heightened U.S. scrutiny of transshipment practices. Since August of last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has imposed an additional 40% tariff on goods determined to have been transshipped through third countries to evade existing duties, alongside any other applicable penalties. CBP lacks the authority to waive or mitigate this charge. Should any relabeled Unimicron PCBs enter the United States, the financial penalty would fall on the company’s American customers as importers of record.

The White House has designated 40 countries and territories as posing an elevated risk of illegal transshipment, with Taiwan specifically flagged as a key concern. Taipei has recently launched aggressive crackdowns on “origin washing”—a practice where companies misrepresent goods as Taiwanese to secure preferential tariff treatment. The severity of the government’s stance was underscored by prosecutors releasing suspect names and bail amounts within 24 hours of raiding one of the nation’s most prominent publicly traded technology firms. Ultimately, the commercial value of the “Made in Taiwan” designation hinges on its distinction from “Made in China.” Following its elevated-risk classification, Taiwan has moved swiftly to demonstrate to Washington that it enforces trade compliance independently, rather than relying on U.S. Customs to police the distinction.

This investigation occurs amid broader enforcement actions targeting semiconductor supply chains. Recent developments include nine individuals indicted in Taiwan for allegedly illegally exporting Nvidia B300 GPUs to China, raids on Supermicro and two supply-chain partners in a widening Nvidia smuggling probe, and the detention of a Nvidia employee during a separate chip smuggling investigation.

The products at the center of the Unimicron case appear to be conventional PCBs rather than high-end ABF substrates used for Intel’s EMIB-T platform or Nvidia’s advanced data center accelerators. Unimicron continues to manufacture standard substrates, PCBs, high-density interconnect (HDI) boards, and flexible circuits at its offshore facilities in China, while its advanced CoWoS-related substrate production remains concentrated at its Yangmei factory in Taoyuan.

If the allegations involve isolated instances of product relabeling, the legal consequences will likely remain confined to Taiwanese jurisdiction. However, if evidence emerges that China-manufactured goods were systematically transshipped through Taiwan to alter their declared origin prior to export to the United States, the implications could be far more severe. Such a finding could trigger CBP’s 40% transshipment penalty on affected shipments, alongside potential retroactive duty reassessments, directly impacting Unimicron’s U.S.-based customers as importers of record.