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Supermicro said on Thursday that it has fired employees in its sales, technical support and business development teams following an independent investigation into the alleged diversion of $2.5 billion in Nvidia-powered servers to China. The San Jose company said no current member of its senior management knew about the scheme.
The case began in March, when the US Department of Justice indicted three people connected to the company. They were co-founder Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, Taiwan-based sales manager Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang, and Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, a third-party broker. Prosecutors charged them with conspiring to violate the Export Controls Reform Act, conspiring to smuggle goods, and defrauding the US government. Supermicro was not named as a defendant. Reports put the value of hardware moved since 2024 at about $2.5 billion.
The board-led review used an outside law firm and an independent forensic accounting consultant. It examined the customer transactions named in the indictment along with a sample of other buyers of restricted products. Investigators found no evidence that any current senior manager knew of the alleged diversion, and no evidence that the company had sold export-controlled products directly to restricted parties or locations. They also concluded that previously issued financial statements could still be relied on.
The review did find staff who failed to apply US export controls properly. Supermicro said it took several personnel actions, including terminations, against employees for failing to follow company policies or its code of conduct. Those staff sat in sales, technical support and business development. None worked in the compliance function. The company has not said how many people were dismissed. It confirmed that the three men named in the indictment no longer have any relationship with Supermicro.
The board accepted in full a set of recommendations to strengthen the export compliance program, and independent directors will oversee the remainder of the rollout. Some changes were made before the review concluded, on the advice of the general counsel and chief compliance officer. Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang had publicly urged Supermicro to fix its export controls. Investors have also filed securities fraud claims over how much revenue may have come from illicit sales.
Supermicro has faced earlier governance problems. It twice avoided Nasdaq delisting over accounting issues, and a separate unauthorized export inquiry spanning Taiwan and Singapore drew police attention in July. Chinese demand for restricted Nvidia accelerators has stayed high as US export rules have tightened.
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