East Bay man charged in alleged conspiracy to illegally ship powerful AI computer chips to China
Federal government arrested an East Bay man over an alleged scheme to evade national security-related system export controls and send powerful highly sought after computer chips made by Santa Clara company Nvidia to China Chinese citizen Cham Li also known as Tony Li of San Leandro conspired with two U S citizens and another Chinese national to falsify paperwork make fake contracts and mislead the American leadership as they illegally shipped hundreds of the computer processors to China via Malaysia and sought to send others via Thailand the U S Department of Justice claimed this week Related Articles Two healthcare executives convicted of distributing controlled substances Letters Alameda County should stop coddling criminals AG Rob Bonta advised he was in compromising video amid East Bay corruption probe South Hayward gang members gets -year prison term in Operation Winter Storm Originally charged with rape and sodomy of girl Dublin man pleads to offensive touching Li could not be reached for comment The Justice Department did not respond to questions about whether he was kept in custody after his arrest Nov His three alleged co-conspirators were also arrested this week the department announced in a news release Nvidia s computer-processor chips have become highly prized amid a global race for supremacy in artificial intelligence China aims to become the world s AI leader by the Nov indictment against the four men announced The country is using its AI capabilities to modernize its military and design and test weapons the indictment noted Nvidia is not accused of any wrongdoing in the event In October the U S tightened export controls on certain advanced computer components imposing licensing requirements that covered four high-end Nvidia chips the indictment noted Li along with a Hong Kong-born U S citizen and a -year-old Chinese citizen on a candidate visa who both lived in Tampa Florida plus a U S citizen from Alabama launched the alleged conspiracy in September the indictment claimed Li and two others sought customers for chips in China who then placed orders the indictment alleged The group shipped Nvidia A processors to China via Malaysia between October and January the indictment claimed The men allegedly tried to send Nvidia H processors and Hewlett Packard supercomputers containing Nvidia H chips to China through Thailand but were disrupted by law enforcement the Justice Department explained The indictment and the department s news release did not make clear who the purported customers were for the chips and what connections they may have had to the Chinese military The men received nearly million in wire transfers from China in connection with the alleged scheme the indictment claimed Li is scheduled to be arraigned Dec in Tampa He and the others face decades in prison on charges of smuggling and conspiracy to violate export controls and to launder money the Justice Department declared
