Supermicro says Taiwan office not raided, cooperating with export probe

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) U.S. server maker Supermicro on Thursday denied reports that its Taiwan office was raided by authorities, saying it is cooperating with an ongoing Taiwanese investigation into the alleged illegal diversion of AI servers equipped with advanced Nvidia chips.

In a statement issued by Chief Revenue Officer Matt Thauberger, the company said Taiwanese authorities have confirmed that Supermicro "is not a target of this investigation" and that it has been providing information to and cooperating with investigators for several months.

"Supermicro's offices in Taiwan were not raided by any government authorities," Thauberger said, adding that this week's events instead reflected the company's ongoing collaboration with Taiwanese authorities.

Four Supermicro Taiwan employees were detained for questioning on Monday in connection with the Taiwanese authorities' investigation into Supermicro's sale of products to a Taiwanese technology company. Supermicro said it coordinated with authorities by providing access to the employees' desks and electronic devices.

Two of the four employees remain in detention pending further legal proceedings, while the other two have been released on bail, the company said.

Supermicro added that all four employees have been placed on administrative leave pending the conclusion of the investigation, saying it has "zero tolerance" for violations of the law or its internal policies.

The company said the investigation remains ongoing and it does not yet have full visibility into the case, but stressed that the matter will not affect its ability to serve customers.

"Our team remains 100% focused on execution -- delivering the highest-performance, most reliable datacenter infrastructure solutions and driving the first-to-market and first-to-online innovations you have always expected from us," Thauberger said.

He added that Supermicro remains committed to protecting U.S. interests and safeguarding its advanced technologies and intellectual property, while continuing to work with government authorities, external advisers and other stakeholders to strengthen safeguards against the illicit diversion of sensitive technologies.

The statement came after the Keelung District Prosecutors Office launched a second round of searches on June 29 at Supermicro's Taiwan Asia-Pacific headquarters, Albatron Technology Co., one of its distributors, and Chief Telecom Inc. as part of an investigation into the alleged illegal resale of AI servers equipped with export-controlled Nvidia chips to China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Prosecutors questioned six people, including four Supermicro employees, Albatron Chief Executive Officer Lu Yang-kai (呂仰鎧) and a Chief Telecom employee.

Following questioning, prosecutors sought the detention of Lu and two Supermicro employees on suspicion of document forgery and breach of trust. A court later approved the detentions, while two other Supermicro employees were released on bail.

The investigation stems from a case uncovered in May, when prosecutors alleged that three suspects used false export declarations to ship dozens of Supermicro AI servers equipped with export-controlled Nvidia chips to a third country before rerouting some of them to Hong Kong in violation of U.S. export controls.

Authorities seized 50 AI servers, more than NT$9 million (US$282,145) in cash and other evidence during the first round of searches. The investigation remains ongoing.