How does Supermicro sell Nvidia chips to China? Bloomberg reveals details of forged export documents and smuggling via shell servers

Bloomberg reported that within hours of the U.S. filing a smuggling lawsuit against Supermicro co-founder, Shenzhen AI company Sharetronic Data Technology’s stock price hit the daily limit down, dropping by 20%.

The article said its procurement records show the company had sold 276 Supermicro servers carrying Nvidia banned chips to its own subsidiary, totaling as much as RMB 632 million.

(Backgrounder: The U.S. Justice Department indicted the co-founder of Supermicro and its Taiwan general manager for smuggling tens of billions of dollars’ worth of NVIDIA chips into China; SMCI’s stock price plunged 12%)

(Additional background: Nvidia’s “favorite kid,” Reflection AI, plans to raise another $2.5 billion, with its valuation soaring to $25 billion! The main team opens-source AI to counter China’s DeepSeek.)

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• Invoices in black and white: 276 banned servers, $92 million
• FCloud: Nvidia cloud partner; after less than a year, it splurged $32.2 billion
• Sharetronic claims it had “no business dealings”
• Fake documents, shell servers, and an illegal $2.5 billion re-shipment

Within a few hours after news of U.S. charges against Supermicro co-founder Liao Yixian for smuggling allegations broke, Shenzhen AI company Sharetronic Data Technology’s stock price crashed and fell 20% on the day.

Bloomberg said the spark for the market turmoil was a batch of documented invoices showing that Sharetronic had purchased hundreds of Supermicro servers loaded with Nvidia banned chips.

Invoices in black and white: 276 banned servers, $92 million

Records Bloomberg obtained show that between May and June last year, two invoices documented Sharetronic selling 276 units of the SYS-821GE-TNHR model Supermicro servers to its Shenzhen subsidiary, stating that the systems in this batch were equipped with Nvidia H100 or H200 processors. The total transaction amount was RMB 632 million, or about $92 million.

The report added that by cross-checking invoice numbers, dates, and total amounts, Bloomberg found 17 complete invoices in China’s State Taxation Administration database, with a cumulative value of about RMB 6 billion—only one-fifth of Sharetronic’s planned total procurement.

Nvidia’s H100 and H200 chips have been listed by the U.S. for export controls to China since 2022; without obtaining a special license, any sales are illegal.

FCloud: Nvidia cloud partner; after less than a year, it splurged $32.2 billion

Bloomberg said that Sharetronic’s subsidiary, FCloud, was incorporated in 2024, but by the end of the year it obtained “Nvidia Cloud Partner” (NCP) qualification, becoming one of only eight certified partners in all of China. FCloud announced the same year a plan to purchase hardware totaling as much as RMB 32.2 billion and actively sought large-scale loans from banks.

Bloomberg noted that a company founded for such a short time having such a massive procurement plan and an official partner status created a strong contrast, leading outsiders to have high doubts about its chip supply channels.

Sharetronic claims it had “no business dealings”

In response to Bloomberg’s inquiries, Nvidia, Supermicro, and Dell all issued statements denying any relationship. Nvidia said it had clearly informed customers they must not provide any export-controlled servers; Supermicro claimed it had never sold any products to Sharetronic; and Dell also said it found no relevant sales records.

Sharetronic itself also denied that it had “any business cooperation or relationship” with Supermicro, and denied that it had ever been a customer of Supermicro. However, the invoice files and tax-database records Bloomberg interviewed for contradict the above claims directly.

The report said this reveals the blind spot in how global tech giants track the sales chain of their most sensitive products: once goods pass through middlemen or are traded hands layer by layer through subsidiaries, the original manufacturer’s export compliance declarations may no longer be able to accurately reflect the final end-user destinations.

Fake documents, shell servers, and illegal $2.5 billion re-shipment

A larger criminal investigation is underway behind this case. Bloomberg reported that Supermicro co-founder Liao Yixian was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in March 2026, accusing him of helping illegally re-ship Nvidia servers worth about $2.5 billion to China; he formally announced a not-guilty plea in April.

Other defendants in the same case include two additional alleged co-conspirators: a Taiwan executive, Sun Tingwei, and Zhang Ruicang. According to information available, the smuggling methods include forging export documents, re-packaging the servers, and placing shell servers in a warehouse to evade inspections.