California man arrested on charges of smuggling banned Nvidia chips to China
Greg Lui, proprietor of Earthmade Computer Inc., faces serious charges for allegedly smuggling computer servers to China. These servers reportedly housed export-controlled GPUs and were routed through Malaysia and Singapore. Prosecutors claim he forged documents to hide these illicit shipments. A conviction could lead to substantial prison time, underscoring the heightened national security…
A California man, 38-year-old Greg Lui, has been arrested for allegedly smuggling more than $300 million worth of Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) to China. Lui, also known as "Yiu Kong Lui," is the owner of Earthmade Computer Inc., a business based in San Gabriel Valley. The alleged scheme involved using false paperwork and routing the servers through Malaysia and Singapore before re-exporting them to China.
If convicted, Lui could face up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy and money laundering charges, and an additional 10 years for the smuggling count. The case stems from a U.S. government investigation that began in January 2024 when Lui allegedly emailed a conspirator about a Malaysian transshipment company seeking 70 servers with export-controlled GPUs.
Later that month, he purchased 27 servers from a U.S. manufacturer for approximately $7.614 million, which were shipped from Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with false documentation.
From January to October 2024, Earthmade received over $176 million from two Malaysia-based shipment companies as part of the scheme. According to Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg, the U.S. will protect its technological advantage from illegal diversion by foreign adversaries.
Written by urgent.news from Times of India's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
