Tech Owner Greg Lui Arrested for Smuggling Nvidia AI Servers to China

Federal prosecutors arrested Greg Lui on October 1, charging the California technology company owner with orchestrating a scheme to smuggle more than $300 million worth of restricted Nvidia artificial intelligence servers to China in violation of United States export controls, bloomberg.com reported. According to the Department of Justice, Lui used false paperwork and third-party shipping routes through Malaysia and Singapore to bypass federal regulations from 2023 to 2024.

The arrest marks an enforcement action in ongoing federal efforts to restrict China’s access to advanced semiconductors capable of powering cutting-edge artificial intelligence and military applications. United States authorities allege that Lui, the 38-year-old owner of City of Industry-based Earthmade Computer Inc., deliberately misdirected high-end hardware containing restricted graphics processing units to buyers in China, including the Chinese government.

How the Smuggling Network Routed Nvidia Servers Through Asia

According to a federal indictment filed in the Central District of California, Lui and unidentified co-conspirators operated a transshipment pipeline between 2023 and 2024, tomshardware.com reported. The operation relied on routing restricted hardware to jurisdictions where export restrictions did not apply, specifically Malaysia and Singapore.

Prosecutors detailed specific transactions in court filings, noting that Earthmade Computer Inc. submitted purchase orders and shipping documents that falsely named permissible end users and destinations. Hindustan Times reported that in January 2024, Lui submitted a purchase order for 27 servers valued at approximately $7.614 million, which were shipped from Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur before being forwarded to a buyer in China.

Financial records cited in the indictment indicate that Earthmade received more than $176 million between January and October 2024 from two Malaysia-based shipping companies involved in the network, according to Hindustan Times reporting.

Lui Faces up to 50 Years in Prison

The Department of Justice charged Lui with three federal counts: conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and the Export Administration Regulations, outbound smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, tomshardware.com reported.

Channel NewsAsia noted that if convicted on all counts, Lui faces a statutory maximum sentence of up to 50 years in prison across the combined charges, while other federal sentencing breakdowns cited by Tom’s Hardware and Hindustan Times place the individual count maximums at up to 20 years for conspiracy, 20 years for money laundering, and 10 years for smuggling.

The multi-agency investigation was conducted jointly by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, according to federal prosecutors.

Lui Appears in Federal Court

Lui was arraigned and made his initial appearance in federal court on October 1, tomshardware.com reported. The defendant remains presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court, as the case proceeds toward trial under the supervision of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.