Nvidia GPU Smuggling Scheme Of IDR 2.6 Trillion To China Revealed, Export Control Pressure Is Getting Tighter

JAKARTA - The United States has again dismantled a high-value Nvidia chip smuggling network to China. This expands law enforcement operations targeting the illicit flow of high-end AI technology. This latest investigation revealed efforts to divert GPUs worth more than 160 million US dollars (Rp 2.6 trillion) to banned countries, although Washington's export controls have been tightened since 2023.

In the release of federal prosecutors, two Chinese men were detained, while a company based in Houston Hao Global LLC along with its owner, Alan Hao Hsu, had already pleaded guilty to illegal export practices.

The case is part of an Operation Gatekeeper, a major investigation that marks Washington's consistency in closing the AI chip shipment gap that has the potential to help develop Beijing's military and strategic computing.

The newly opened documents show Hsu and his company exporting or trying to export Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs worth at least 160 million US dollars between October 2024 and May 2025. Although not Nvidia's most recent chips, the two models still require a special license to be sent to China.

Investigators found that Hsu and his supplier network falsified documents, hiding their true purpose by including third unrestricted countries, while more than $50 million in funds from China poured in to support the operation.

Hsu is now awaiting a verdict on February 18 and faces up to 10 years in prison. His company can be fined double its illegal profits.

On the other hand, investigators also ensnared two other people: Fanyue Gong from New York and Benlin Yuan from Ontario, Canada. Gong is accused of using the doll buyer to obtain the GPU by disguising the final customer as a party in the US or non-restrictional state. The packages were later re-fabricated in the US warehouse and labeled as generic components before being sent to China and Hong Kong.

Yuan, who is the CEO of a US subsidiary of a IT company from Beijing, is accused of drafting a fraud scenario so that detained shipments can pass, providing false information to authorities, and regulating storage warehouses for chips to be exported to China. If proven, he could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The case is coordinated with the US Department of Commerce's Industry and Security Bureau, which since 2023 has tightened export controls to limit China's access to AI's advanced computing capabilities. A series of arrests in recent months show a new pattern of GPU smuggling through fictitious buyers, shell companies and shadow logistics.

Although the US government is taking firm action against violations, the US President this week signaled he would allow Nvidia to sell the H200 chip to China's approved customer, as long as Washington gets a 25 percent profit.

H200 is not the most advanced chip, but will be China's highest legally accessible model "a compromise that could ease the country's scarcity of AI computing power, while maintaining Washington's political control over strategic technology."

The global technology space is now entering a phase where GPUs are not just hardware, but high-value geopolitical commodities. This case shows how every graphics card can turn into a pion in a big game between the two world technological powers.