Three Charged in AI Chip Smuggling Plot to China

Federal authorities have charged a Chinese national and two U.S. citizens with conspiring to smuggle millions of dollars worth of export-controlled artificial intelligence chips to China via Thailand, highlighting ongoing efforts to curb the illicit transfer of advanced technology. The Department of Justice announced the indictment on March 25, accusing the defendants of attempting to bypass U.S. export restrictions designed to limit China's access to semiconductors with potential military applications.

The charged individuals are Stanley Yi Zheng, 56, from Hong Kong; Matthew Kelly, 49, from Hopewell Junction, New York; and Tommy Shad English, 53, from Atlanta, Georgia. Prosecutors allege the conspiracy began around May 2023, when the three men coordinated to acquire high-performance computer servers containing restricted graphics processing units, or GPUs, from a California-based hardware manufacturer in San Jose. These chips, including Nvidia's A100 and H100 models, are critical for training large-scale AI systems and are subject to U.S. Commerce Department controls that prohibit their export to China without a license.

According to court documents, English placed an initial...