PUBLISHED : 13 Dec 2025 at 08:09
Phorto: 123RF
US authorities have dismantled an illegal operation smuggling advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, seizing high-performance Nvidia processors worth US$160 million (about 5.6 billion baht). The seized goods primarily consisted of Nvidia’s H100 and H200 chips, representing a significant breach of export controls.
The incident this week underscores how AI chips have evolved into a strategic resource critical to national security, a primary factor driving the United States’ stringent tightening of export controls in recent years.
According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, the smuggling ring operated …
PUBLISHED : 13 Dec 2025 at 08:09
Phorto: 123RF
US authorities have dismantled an illegal operation smuggling advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, seizing high-performance Nvidia processors worth US$160 million (about 5.6 billion baht). The seized goods primarily consisted of Nvidia’s H100 and H200 chips, representing a significant breach of export controls.
The incident this week underscores how AI chips have evolved into a strategic resource critical to national security, a primary factor driving the United States’ stringent tightening of export controls in recent years.
According to a statement from the US Department of Justice, the smuggling ring operated out of Houston, Texas. The group employed elaborate schemes to evade laws restricting the export of advanced technology to China. The operation involved shipping H100 and H200 chips to a warehouse within the United States, where they were repackaged and falsely labelled as "SANDKYAN". The smugglers then falsified export documentation to misrepresent the product type and conceal the true final destination, allowing the shipments to bypass initial logistics checks by listing non-Chinese destinations.
Despite the complexity of the scheme, the operation was exposed through financial transactions directly linked to the China. These financial trails served as key evidence leading to the expanded investigation. Court documents identified Alan Hao Hsu and associates at Hao Global LLC as the ringleaders attempting to illegally export the massive haul of Nvidia AI chips.
Roman Rozhavsky, Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Counterintelligence Division, stated that the case exemplifies the importance of inter-agency cooperation in protecting advanced US technology.
The smuggling attempt highlights the surging demand for AI computing power in China following restrictions on access to advanced chips from Nvidia and other manufacturers. Reports indicate that China has employed various methods to mitigate the impact of sanctions, such as leasing AI computing power from abroad or establishing data centres in third-party nations like Singapore, as well as utilising intermediary companies and developing nations as import channels. This case represents the latest escalation in the intensifying "AI technology war" between the two superpowers.
The current US administration has signalled a clear intent to close loopholes in AI chip exports and aggressively prosecute smugglers, particularly those dealing in data centre-level technology like the H100 and H200.
Analysts suggest that following this revelation, the scrutiny of AI chip export routes will become significantly stricter, potentially impacting the global AI industry supply chain in the long term.
Source: Justice