
About this episode
The episode discusses a recent AI chip smuggling ring involving Super Micro and NVIDIA chips sold to Chinese buyers, highlighting the challenges in stopping such operations.
Another day, another AI chip smuggling ring has been busted by the United States government. But this one is different: for the first time, executives from U.S. server manufacturer Super Micro have been charged with selling NVIDIA chips to Chinese buyers — a violation of U.S. export controls. Reporter Eliot Chen returns to the podcast with editor Andrew Peaple to discuss how the operation worked, and why smuggling chips to China is seemingly so hard to stop. Also, we’ll have a clip from our...
People in this episode
Host: Andrew Peaple
Guest: Eliot Chen
Topics covered
- AI chip smuggling
- U.S. export controls
- Super Micro
- NVIDIA chips
- China
Keywords
- AI chips
- smuggling
- Super Micro
- NVIDIA
- export controls
- China
- U.S. government
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Super Micro, NVIDIA
More episodes of The Wire China Podcast
- China's AI Pains and Gains · June 12, 2026 · 17 min
- How the PLA Tried To Get Nvidia's Chips · June 5, 2026 · 22 min
- When the Chips Are Down, Turn to China? · May 29, 2026 · 12 min
- The New AI Winners: Picks and Shovels · May 22, 2026 · 16 min
- A Troubled Road for TP-Link · May 15, 2026 · 20 min
- China’s Missing Reporters · May 8, 2026 · 17 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Wire China Podcast podcast page.