The US Department of Justice (Doj) said on Tuesday that two Chinese citizens have been arrested for illegal shipping of millions of dollars of powerful AI chips for China.
DOJ alleged that ALX Solutions in the last three years, a company said that Chuan Geng and Shivei Yang had exported chips from China from the US without the necessary license.
Court documents viewed by the BBC alleged that shipments include NVDia’s H10 graphics processing units (GPUs), which have become an important focus of American export controls with the aim of preventing China from purchasing state -of -the -art technology.
An Nvidia spokesperson said the case suggests that the smuggling of its chips is “a nonstarter.”
He said that NVIDIA sells products to famous partners who help ensure that all sales comply with US export control rules.
“Even relatively small exporters and shipments are completely subject to review and investigation, and no service, support, or updates will be there for any diverted products.”
According to court documents, there were three known employees of California -based ALX Solutions: Mr. Geng managed the firm’s finance, Ms. Yang was its secretary, while its Chief Executive Officer was not nominated in the documents.
DOJ said Three individuals used “full decision -making authority and shipment coordination” for the firm.
Mr. Geng was a permanent resident of California, and Ms. Yang, an “illegal foreigner” who abolished his visa, said in a DOJ statement.
Business records showed that the company sent goods several times from the US in Singapore and Malaysia between October 2022 and July 2025, DOJ said that both countries are used as a transit hub for “illegal shipments” to China.
ALX never received payment from these shipping firms and instead will be paid by other companies located in Hong Kong and China. The DOJ stated that these included a payment of $ 1M (£ 750,000) from a China -based firm in January 2024.
Last December, ALX sent a shipment with export -related computing chips – in which NVIDIA’s H100 and GEFORCE RTX 4090 GPU – was checked by US customs, in which according to court documents.
The documents stated, “Neither Alx Solutions nor Geng or Yang obtained or received the license from the Department of Commerce.”
In a 2023 invoice worth more than $ 28.4m, ALX reportedly declared a supplier super micro computer of NVIDIA chips, that the devices were ordered to the customer in Singapore.
But an American export control officer in Singapore could not verify that Chips arrived in the country and the designated company was not present at the listed location, the court document said.
“It appears that Alx Solutions sent NVIDIA products to different end users.”
Super Micro did not immediately respond to a request for BBC’s comment, but the Reuters said in a statement to the news agency that it was “firmly committed to compliance with all US export control rules”.
It states that it will not comment on an ongoing legal matter, but will cooperate with the authorities in any such action.
DOJ said that Ms. Yang was arrested on Saturday, while Mr. Geng soon surrendered to the officials.
The pair appeared in the federal court at Los Angeles on Monday, said by DOJ. If found guilty, they can face jails up to 20 years old.
According to court documents, Alx Solutions does not have a website. A website for ALX-Cloud, which specializes in cloud computing services, suggests that it is a subsidiary of the company.
The BBC was unable to find the lawyers immediately for Mr. Geng and Ms. Yang, but has approached Alks-Kloud to request a statement.
Additional Reporting by Peter Hoskins
