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Two Chinese nationals, one living in the U.S. illegally, were arrested this week
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accused of illegally sending NVIDIA's advanced AI chips to China. Department of Justice authorities announced Tuesday the chips are worth tens of millions of dollars
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According to the DOJ, the defendants, a 28-year-old man who's a legal permanent resident
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and a 28-year-old woman who overstayed her visa, are charged with violating the Export Control
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Reform Act, which currently restricts the sale or shipment of certain advanced technologies to
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China for national security reasons. Between October 2022 and July 2025, the two allegedly
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exported sensitive technology to China from the U.S. They did this through their own company
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based in California. The technology they exported includes graphics processing units, also known as GPUs, which are high-powered computer components used in AI
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data centers, and modern computing. The chip is described as the most powerful GPU chip on the
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market, specifically built for self-driving cars, medical diagnosis systems, and other advanced
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technologies powered by artificial intelligence. U.S. law requires companies to get a license from
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the Department of Commerce before exporting these types of advanced chips to certain countries
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including China. The defendants did not get that required license, meaning the exports were illegal
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according to the DOJ. If convicted, they could each face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison
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For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan. If you want more on this story, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit san.com
