The Department of Justice indicted two Chinese nationals for exporting high-performance chips, including the NVIDIA H100, to China without authorization.

Two Chinese nationals living in California have been arrested and indicted on charges of violating the Export Control Reform Act, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison, for knowingly exporting NVIDIA high-performance chips that can be used in the field of AI, which are subject to export restrictions to China.

Office of Public Affairs | Two Chinese Nationals Arrested on Complaint Alleging they Illegal Shipped to China Sensitive Microchips Used in AI Applications | United States Department of Justice

Two Chinese nationals in California accused of illegally shipping Nvidia AI chips to China | Reuters

According to the Department of Justice, the two indicted are Chuan Geng of Pasadena, California, and Shiwei Yang of El Monte, California. Both are 28-year-old Chinese nationals. Geng holds green card status, while Yang is an illegal immigrant with an expired visa.

The two are accused of knowingly and without authorization exporting high-performance chips, including NVIDIA H100 GPUs, to China.

According to prosecutors, the two men conducted at least 21 exports to companies in Singapore and Malaysia through an El Monte-based company called ALX Solutions between October 2022 and July 2025. ALX Solutions received payments from companies in China and Hong Kong, including $1 million (approximately 147 million yen) from a Chinese company in January 2024.

Prosecutors searched ALX Solutions' offices and the defendants' mobile phones and found incriminating communications records, including a plan to 'export chips via Malaysia to circumvent U.S. export restrictions to China.'

Geng was released on $250,000 bail at his initial appearance in Los Angeles District Court. Yang's indictment is scheduled for August 12, 2025, with the indictment reading scheduled for September 11. No plea was entered.

NVIDIA said, 'We primarily sell products to partners, including OEMs, and we help them ensure they comply with U.S. export control regulations,' and added, 'This shows that smuggling is completely unacceptable.'