Federal authorities say the alleged route around US chip controls began in 2023, when Yiu Kong Lui — also identified as Greg Lui — and associates allegedly started arranging shipments of export-controlled Nvidia server chips through Malaysia and Singapore rather than sending them directly to China.¹

The scheme, prosecutors allege, depended on paperwork designed to conceal the true destination. One 2024 order involved 70 servers declared for Malaysia; after Lui’s company bought 27 of them for about $7.6 million, a co-conspirator allegedly told a Malaysian official that all 27 had gone to China. Another shipment of 92 controlled servers was routed through Singapore and Malaysia, then Hong Kong, before reaching a Hangzhou-based Chinese company.¹

By Thursday, federal agents had arrested the 38-year-old California executive on allegations of export-control violations, smuggling and money laundering. Prosecutors say the transactions involved more than $300 million in servers and that Lui’s company received more than $180 million from Malaysian shipping firms. He has not yet entered a plea, according to court records.²

The government’s case frames the matter as more than commercial fraud. “Controlling the export of advanced SI technology is critical to safeguarding our national security,” FBI counterintelligence official Roman Rozhavsky said.² The arrest also follows four similar Nvidia-smuggling cases brought last year, underscoring how Southeast Asian intermediaries have become central to enforcement concerns.³

Nvidia, for its part, said it had helped investigators rather than enabled the alleged scheme. “This case shows yet again that smuggling is a losing proposition — legally, economically and technically,” a company spokesperson said, adding that its work with law enforcement had led to prosecutions.²

But the allegations sharpen a broader question: whether chipmakers and US officials can identify suspicious orders early enough — before servers nominally bound for third countries are diverted into China.