U.S. Arrests Company Owner Accused of Shipping $300 Million in Restricted GPU Servers to China

U.S. authorities have arrested Greg Lui, a 38-year-old California-based technology company owner, on allegations of orchestrating the illegal export of more than $300 million in advanced GPU-equipped servers to China through a network of overseas transshipment companies.

Federal prosecutors claim that Lui, also known as Yiu Kong Lui, used false end-user documentation, intermediary companies, and staged shipments to evade U.S. export control restrictions on high-performance computing technology.

Restricted GPU Servers Shipped

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Lui owns Earthmade Computer Inc., a privately held technology company in the City of Industry.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment against him on September 29, charging Lui with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and Export Administration Regulations, outbound smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He was arrested on October 1 and was scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles the following day.

The indictment alleges that between 2023 and 2024, Earthmade acquired high-end computer servers containing U.S.-manufactured graphics processing units (GPUs) commonly used in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing workloads.

These accelerators can support large-scale model training, intelligence analysis, autonomous systems, and military-relevant applications, subjecting them to strict export restrictions when the final destination or end user is in China.

Prosecutors state that Lui and unidentified co-conspirators avoided the required licenses from the Department of Commerce by shipping the controlled servers first to Malaysia and Singapore, presenting these locations as legitimate end destinations before ultimately re-exporting the equipment to China.

Authorities allege that the group intentionally misrepresented the identity of the final customers and the intended destination of the servers in the documentation provided to U.S.-based manufacturers.

The operation relied on freight forwarders and Malaysia-based shipping companies to obscure the transaction trail. Between January and October 2024, Earthmade reportedly received over $176 million from two Malaysia-based shipping companies linked to the scheme.

In one cited instance, Lui allegedly emailed a conspirator in January 2024 about a Malaysian transshipment firm seeking to purchase 70 servers containing export-restricted GPUs.

Later that month, the indictment claims, Lui submitted a purchase order worth approximately $7.6 million for 27 servers from a U.S. manufacturer.

These servers were shipped from Los Angeles to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with packing documents identifying the systems as containing export-controlled GPUs. In March 2024, a co-conspirator allegedly notified a Malaysian government official via email that the 27 servers had ultimately been transshipped to a buyer in China.

This case emphasizes the increasing importance of GPU export controls in U.S. national security enforcement. The U.S. government has tightened restrictions on advanced AI chips and high-performance computing systems because it fears such technology could enhance foreign military capabilities, surveillance platforms, cyber operations, and AI development.

Transshipment through third countries poses a significant enforcement challenge, especially when companies use front entities, falsified end-user declarations, or complex logistics chains.

If convicted on all charges, Lui faces up to 20 years in prison for conspiracy related to export controls, 20 years for conspiracy to commit money laundering, and 10 years for smuggling.

The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the FBI’s Counterintelligence and Espionage Division are conducting the investigation. Prosecutors have stressed that the indictment contains allegations, and Lui is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

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