Super Micro co-founder pleads guilty to AI chip diversion

Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun, a Super Micro co-founder, has reportedly pleaded guilty to allegations of unlawfully diverting Nvidia AI chips to China. The plea was made in exchange for an undisclosed cooperation arrangement with prosecutors, according to Tom's Hardware. Sun is expected to be sentenced on September 8, 2027.

Tom's Hardware reports that workers removed serial numbers from real servers using hair dryers before transferring them to dummy shells to conceal the shipment. The servers were ultimately delivered to Alibaba through a Thailand-based corporation, which denied receiving banned Nvidia hardware.