Supermicro stock plunges 26% after US charges co-founder with conspiracy to smuggle Nvidia chips to China

Supermicro (SMCI) stock plummeted as much as 28% on Friday after an unsealed indictment revealed that the US charged two Supermicro employees and a contractor with smuggling servers containing Nvidia (NVDA) chips to China, in violation of US export controls.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged Supermicro's co-founder, Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, a US citizen who also serves on the company's board of directors and as senior vice president of business development. Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang, a sales manager in Taiwan, and Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, a contractor who was described by authorities as a "fixer," were also charged.