Three Charged with Conspiring to Unlawfully Divert Cutting Edge U.S. Artificial Intelligence Technology to China

An indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court charges Yih Shyan Wally Liaw, Ruei Tsang Steven Chang, and Ting Wei Willy Sun with conspiring to divert high performance computer servers assembled in the United States and integrating sophisticated U.S. artificial intelligence technology to China in violation of export control laws. Liaw is a U.S. citizen and co founder of a U.S. based manufacturer of such servers. Chang is a general manager in the manufacturer's Taiwan office. Sun is a third party broker. Liaw and Sun were arrested and will be presented in the Northern District of California. Chang remains a fugitive. According to the indictment the defendants directed a Southeast Asia based company to place orders for the servers purportedly for its own use. The servers were shipped to the company's facilities then repackaged and sent to China. The defendants prepared false documents to show the Southeast Asia company as the end user. Between 2024 and 2025 the Southeast Asia company purchased approximately 2.5 billion dollars worth of the servers from the U.S. manufacturer. At least approximately 510 million dollars worth assembled in the United States were diverted to China between late April 2025 and mid May 2025. The defendants allegedly staged thousands of non working dummy servers at warehouses to deceive the manufacturer's compliance team and U.S. Department of Commerce inspectors. The actual servers had already been shipped to China. Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg said the indictment details alleged efforts to evade U.S. export laws through false documents and staged dummy servers. FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky said the investigation revealed the alleged conspiracy to sell billions of dollars worth of servers integrating controlled graphics processing units to buyers in China. U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said the defendants participated in a systematic scheme through lies and concealment to drive sales. FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said the defendants fabricated documents and used a pass through company to conceal their misconduct. All facts described in the indictment are allegations.