Four Men Charged in Illegal Nvidia GPU Export to China

Federal authorities have charged four men, including two U.S. citizens and two Chinese nationals residing in the United States, with conspiring to illegally export advanced Nvidia graphics processing units to China, in violation of U.S. export controls imposed to limit Beijing's access to cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology. The scheme, which began in September 2023 and continued into this month, involved routing shipments through Malaysia and Thailand using falsified documents and a front company in Florida.

The defendants are Hon Ning Matthew Ho, 34, of Tampa, Florida; Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, of Huntsville, Alabama; Cham Tony Li, 38; and Jing Harry Chen, 45. Prosecutors allege the group never obtained required export licenses for the restricted Nvidia A100, H100, and H200 GPUs, which are central to AI development. Instead, they created fake contracts claiming the chips were destined for third countries, while concealing their true endpoint in China. The operation was funded by more than $3.89 million in wire transfers from unidentified Chinese buyers.

According to the indictment, the conspirators successfully shipped 400 Nvidia A100 units to China in two...