The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Tuesday that two Chinese citizens were arrested and charged with millions of dollars worth of powerful AI chips shipping strong AI chips to China.
DOJ claimed that for the past three years, Alx Solutions, a company that it said is run by Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang, has exported chips from the US to China without the necessary license.
The court documents seen by the BBC include NVIDIA's H100 Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) containing cargo, making it a key focus in US export controls aimed at halting the purchase of cutting-edge technology.
The case shows that smuggling that chip is “non-starter,” an Nvidia spokesperson said.
Nvidia sells products to well-known partners that help ensure that all sales comply with US export control rules, she added.
“Even relatively small exporters and shipments are subject to thorough review and scrutiny, and repurposed products do not have services, support or updates.”
California-based Alx Solutions had three known employees, according to court documents. Geng handled the company's finances, Yang was the secretary, whose chief executive officer was not named in the document.
The DOJ said three individuals exercised “full decision-making authority and shipping adjustments” for the company.
Geng is a permanent resident of California, and Yang was an “illegal foreigner” who had overstayed his visa, a statement from the DOJ said.
Business records show that the company sent goods several times from the US to Singapore and Malaysian shipping companies between October 2022 and July 2025, DOJ said the two countries were being used as a transport hub to “hides illegal shipments” to China.
Alx has never received payments from these shipping companies, instead being paid by other companies based in Hong Kong and China. These included $1 million (£750,000) payments from a China-based company in January 2024, DOJ said.
According to court documents, Alx sent cargo last December, including export-restricted computing chips, including NVIDIA's H100 and GeForce RTX 4090 GPUs.
“Neither ALX Solutions, Geng or Yang applied or obtained a license from the Department of Commerce,” the document said.
In a 2023 invoice worth more than $28.4 million, ALX allegedly declared to NVIDIA chip supplier Super Micro Computer that the device has been ordered for a Singapore-based customer.
However, the US export control officer in Singapore could not confirm that the tip had arrived in the country and that the named company was not present in the listed location, court documents said.
“It appears ALX Solutions has shipped NVIDIA products to a variety of end users.”
Super Micro did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the BBC, but in a statement to the Reuters agency it said it was “a firm commitment to complying with all US export control regulations.”
It would not comment on the ongoing legal cases, but added that it would work with authorities in such cases.
Ms. Yang was arrested on Saturday, but Genig quickly surrendered herself to the authorities, DOJ said.
The pair appeared in federal court in Los Angeles on Monday, DOJ said. If convicted, they could be held in prison for up to 20 years.
According to court documents, ALX Solutions does not appear to have a website. The Alx-Cloud website, which specializes in cloud computing services, says it is a subsidiary of the company.
The BBC was unable to immediately find an attorney for Mr Geng and Ms Yang, but contacted Alx-Cloud to request a statement.
Additional Reports by Peter Hoskins
