--- title: California businessman charged with smuggling $300M in... description: Greg Lui, owner of Earthmade Computer Inc., has been charged with smuggling over $300 million worth of export-controlled Nvidia hardware, including A100, H100,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/california-businessman-charged-with-smuggling-300m-in-nvidia-hardware-to-china-lmlp0cynk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: California businessman charged with smuggling $300M in Nvidia hardware to China | daily.dev og:description: Greg Lui, owner of Earthmade Computer Inc., has been charged with smuggling over $300 million worth of export-controlled Nvidia hardware, including A100, H100,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/california-businessman-charged-with-smuggling-300m-in-nvidia-hardware-to-china-lmlp0cynk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/LMLP0cyNK.png og:image:alt: California businessman charged with smuggling $300M in Nvidia hardware to China og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # California businessman charged with smuggling $300M in Nvidia hardware to China **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 2 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Greg Lui, owner of Earthmade Computer Inc., has been charged with smuggling over $300 million worth of export-controlled Nvidia hardware, including A100, H100, RTX 4090, and 5090 GPUs, to China. Prosecutors allege he and co-conspirators routed US-purchased servers through Malaysia and Singapore to bypass Commerce Department licensing requirements, using false end-user paperwork. The scheme allegedly ran from October 2023 to August 2026, with Earthmade receiving more than $176 million from Malaysia-based shippers. Lui faces export-control, smuggling, and money-laundering charges carrying a combined statutory maximum of 50 years. ## Content Greg Lui, 38, of California, has been arrested and charged with smuggling more than $300 million worth of export-controlled AI servers to China. Prosecutors say he did it through his company, Earthmade Computer Inc. The hardware allegedly included servers built around Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs, plus GeForce RTX 4090 and 5090 cards. US export controls require a Commerce Department license to send chips like these to China. ## How the scheme allegedly worked Prosecutors say Lui and unnamed co-conspirators bought high-end GPU servers from US manufacturers in 2023 and 2024. Freight forwarders then carried the machines to Malaysia and Singapore, where no US license was required. From there, co-conspirators reshipped them to China. The manufacturers allegedly got false paperwork saying the servers were headed to permitted end users and destinations. One detail stands out. In January 2024, Lui allegedly emailed a co-conspirator a compliance form showing that a Malaysian transshipment buyer knew US law restricted the 70 servers it wanted. Later that month, he allegedly ordered 27 of them, fitted with Nvidia H100 GPUs, from a US manufacturer for about $7.614 million. That works out to roughly $282,000 each. Money moved the other way. Prosecutors allege Earthmade received more than $176 million from two Malaysia-based shipping companies between January and October 2024. The overall scheme is alleged to have run from October 2023 into 2026. ## Charges Lui faces charges under the Export Control Reform Act and related export regulations, along with smuggling and money laundering conspiracy. The statutory maximums are 20 years for export-control conspiracy, 10 for smuggling and 20 for money-laundering conspiracy, for up to 50 years in total if he is convicted. ## Wider crackdown The case is part of a broader push against AI chip smuggling into China. Taiwan recently indicted an Nvidia manager over similar allegations. The charges are allegations, and Lui has not been convicted. ## Questions this post answers ### Can companies legally ship Nvidia H100 or A100 GPUs to China through Malaysia or Singapore to avoid export restrictions? No, routing export-controlled Nvidia GPUs through Malaysia or Singapore before reshipping to China does not remove US export liability if China is the true final destination. US prosecutors charged a California businessman, Greg Lui, with running exactly this scheme using falsified end-user paperwork, alleging it moved over $300 million in A100, H100, and RTX 4090/5090 hardware between October 2023 and August 2026. _Teams navigating GPU export compliance follow enforcement cases like this one on daily.dev to gauge real legal risk._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Taiwan indicts Nvidia manager over chips shipped to China](https://daily.dev/posts/taiwan-indicts-nvidia-manager-over-chips-shipped-to-china-httxlmdrb) · The Next Web · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Taiwan detains an Nvidia employee as its chip-smuggling probe reaches the chipmaker](https://daily.dev/posts/taiwan-detains-an-nvidia-employee-as-its-chip-smuggling-probe-reaches-the-chipmaker-ixe0yxreo) · The Next Web · 1 upvotes · 2 comments - [Taiwan suspects NVIDIA chips were smuggled to China via a Japan transshipment route](https://daily.dev/posts/taiwan-suspects-nvidia-chips-were-smuggled-to-china-via-a-japan-transshipment-route-w3pawarkv) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#nvidia](https://daily.dev/tags/nvidia), [#gpu](https://daily.dev/tags/gpu) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/california-businessman-charged-with-smuggling-300m-in-nvidia-hardware-to-china-lmlp0cynk) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"California businessman charged with smuggling $300M in Nvidia hardware to China","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/california-businessman-charged-with-smuggling-300m-in-nvidia-hardware-to-china-lmlp0cynk","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/california-businessman-charged-with-smuggling-300m-in-nvidia-hardware-to-china-lmlp0cynk"},"datePublished":"2026-10-02T15:21:38.048Z","dateModified":"2026-10-03T19:19:48.522Z","description":"Greg Lui, owner of Earthmade Computer Inc., has been charged with smuggling over $300 million worth of export-controlled Nvidia hardware, including A100, H100,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c8722bd0e999d60ea1eaa782e4d3b65f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/c8722bd0e999d60ea1eaa782e4d3b65f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Collections","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Collections","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--fk_6ycEi--/f_auto,q_auto/v1780996001/logos/collections?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/california-businessman-charged-with-smuggling-300m-in-nvidia-hardware-to-china-lmlp0cynk","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"nvidia,gpu","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Collections","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/collections"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"California businessman charged with smuggling $300M in Nvidia hardware to China"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/california-businessman-charged-with-smuggling-300m-in-nvidia-hardware-to-china-lmlp0cynk#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Can companies legally ship Nvidia H100 or A100 GPUs to China through Malaysia or Singapore to avoid export restrictions?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"No, routing export-controlled Nvidia GPUs through Malaysia or Singapore before reshipping to China does not remove US export liability if China is the true final destination. US prosecutors charged a California businessman, Greg Lui, with running exactly this scheme using falsified end-user paperwork, alleging it moved over $300 million in A100, H100, and RTX 4090/5090 hardware between October 2023 and August 2026. Teams navigating GPU export compliance follow enforcement cases like this one on daily.dev to gauge real legal risk."}}]} ```