Export controls on advanced chips rest on an assumption that is rarely stated: that the companies selling the hardware are the ones enforcing the rules. An indictment filed in Taiwan on August 24 tests that assumption directly.The accused include a distribution manager surnamed Chang at Nvidia’s Taiwan office, two sales managers surnamed Lin and Wang at the Taiwan branch of Supermicro Computer, and the chief executive of Albatron Technology, a Supermicro distributor. The detail that makes the case significant is the logistics, because it is the most complete public account so far of how restricted American hardware is alleged to move through Taiwan’s distribution chain to Chinese end users. Prosecutors say 74 servers containing the restricted chips reached China. Fifty were routed through Indonesia. Eight went via Japan. The remainder were shipped directly to the mainland. Is the current Political waves good for global business ?
