A broker accused of helping divert U.S. servers loaded with restricted Nvidia artificial intelligence chips to China has pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan.
Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun pleaded guilty Thursday, Oct. 8, to four counts, including conspiracies to violate U.S. export controls, smuggle goods from the United States, defraud the United States and obstruct justice, Reuters reported. The plea was part of an agreement with prosecutors, The Next Web and Tom's Hardware reported. The terms of any cooperation were not disclosed.
Sun is scheduled to be sentenced in September 2027, according to The Next Web and Tom's Hardware.
The alleged scheme
Prosecutors charged Sun and two others in March with conspiring to divert about $2.5 billion worth of U.S. AI technology to China, Reuters and The Next Web reported.
According to the indictment, as described by Reuters, the scheme began around October 2023. The defendants conspired to export servers from a U.S. manufacturer, widely believed to be Super Micro Computer, to China without the required licenses. The restricted products named include Nvidia's B200, H100 and H200 graphics processors and servers containing them.
Prosecutors say the servers went to a company in Southeast Asia before being diverted to China, The Next Web reported. The indictment calls Sun a "fixer" and alleges he helped stage "dummy" servers in December 2025 and made false statements to a U.S. Commerce Department officer during an inspection of servers that had already been sent to China, Reuters reported.
Tom's Hardware reported that the servers were allegedly routed through a Thailand-based company to Alibaba, which has denied receiving the hardware. Ecker Geopolitics could not independently verify the end customer.
The co-founder's case
Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw is charged in the same case. He has pleaded not guilty. The Next Web reported he has left the company's board, and Tom's Hardware reported he was released on a $5 million bond and that his trial is set for Nov. 2.
A third defendant, former Super Micro Taiwan sales manager Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang, has not appeared in court, The Next Web reported. Tom's Hardware described him as a fugitive.
Super Micro is not a defendant. The company said the case has had no impact on its business operations and that it cut ties with the defendants earlier this year, Reuters reported. In August, it said its current senior leaders did not know about the scheme and that it is cooperating with investigators, The Next Web reported.
Why it matters
Washington restricts sales of Nvidia's most advanced chips to China because they can be used to train powerful AI systems. The case shows the main weakness in that strategy: chips sold legally to third countries can be quietly moved on to China through brokers and intermediary companies.
A guilty plea from the alleged middleman, possibly with cooperation, could strengthen the government's hand against the remaining defendants. It also puts pressure on server makers and chip companies to track where their hardware ends up.
What's next
Watch Liaw's scheduled trial, any further Commerce Department action on server resellers in Southeast Asia, and whether Congress presses for stricter chip-tracking requirements.