California man arrested over alleged $300m server smuggling to China

The US Department of Justice announced Thursday that Greg Lui, 38, of California — also known as Yiu Kong Lui — has been arrested over allegations he smuggled more than $300m worth of computer servers to China. According to the department, Lui used false paperwork and shipments routed through third countries to move the export-controlled equipment. The servers contained US-manufactured graphics processing units (GPUs), which the department said are commonly used for Super Intelligence, the Trump administration's term for artificial intelligence.

The justice department statement says Lui operated a technology company called Earthmade Computer, which he used to buy and send items to China without the licenses required by the US Department of Commerce between 2023 and 2024. The company allegedly shipped goods to countries including Malaysia and Singapore, where no such license is required, and then illegally re-exported them to China, according to the announcement.

Bill Essayli, the US attorney for the central district of California, said the case was about protecting national security. "Protecting America's national security means keeping our advanced super intelligence technology from being used to strengthen our adversaries' military capabilities," he said, adding that authorities "will aggressively prosecute those who put our national security at risk for profit."

If convicted, Lui could face a maximum of 50 years in prison, the justice department said.

The arrest comes as China, long seen as trailing the United States on cutting-edge AI, has been closing that gap fast. Washington has for years tried to slow China's progress through export controls on the advanced chips needed for frontier AI, blocking access to top-end US semiconductors such as those made by Nvidia.