Supermicro launches internal probe after cofounder’s arrest on charges of $2.5 billion in chip smuggling

Two Supermicro board members are spearheading an internal investigation following a federal indictment alleging one of the company’s cofounders orchestrated the routing of $2.5 billion in servers packed with Nvidia’s highly prized GPUs to China, in violation of export controls. 

The independent investigation comes two years after an independent director on the board previously investigated Supermicro and found “no evidence of fraud or misconduct on the part of management or the board of directors.” Supermicro is facing scrutiny among investors who are concerned that its compliance issues and reputational risk could strain its relationship with $4 trillion chipmaker Nvidia, which supplies Supermicro with chips for customers’ purchase orders. 

The board’s newest director, Scott Angel, who was appointed to be the independent leader on the board, is running point on the latest investigation, along with audit committee chair Tally Liu, the company announced on Tuesday. Details on the investigation are sparse, but the board has hired law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson to advise the independent directors. Munger, Tolles brought in consulting firm AlixPartners for forensic accounting and audit expertise. The two firms will work with Supermicro’s auditor, BDO USA, and will “report their findings directly” to Angel and Liu, the company said.

The Department of Justice charged Supermicro cofounder Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw and two others last month for allegedly conspiring in 2024 and 2025 to route Supermicro servers to an unnamed Southeast Asian company as a front for the true buyers, who were in China. Liaw, Ruei-Tsang........

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