Two Chinese nationals have been charged in the United States for allegedly smuggling millions of dollars’ worth of advanced AI chips to China in violation of export controls. Over the past three years, the suspects are said to have used their California-based company, ALX Solutions, to ship restricted Nvidia chips, including the powerful H100 GPUs, without obtaining the required export licenses.
According to legal filings, ALX Solutions was a small operation with three known employees. One of the accused managed the company’s finances, while the other served as secretary. Despite its size, the firm was allegedly responsible for shipping high-value computing components out of the US to intermediaries in countries such as Singapore and Malaysia—both cited as common transit points used to disguise the true final destination of shipments.
Investigators revealed that ALX Solutions did not receive payments directly from the shipping firms. Instead, funds were wired from companies based in Hong Kong and mainland China. Notably, a China-based entity paid $1 million in January 2024. Authorities believe these financial arrangements were part of a broader strategy to hide the end recipients of the exported goods.
One shipment in December 2024 contained chips such as Nvidia’s H100 and GeForce RTX 4090. US customs flagged the export, prompting further investigation. It was later discovered that ALX had falsely listed a non-existent Singaporean firm as the destination on a multimillion-dollar invoice. Verification by US officials in Singapore failed to locate the named recipient, raising suspicions about the actual destination and end use of the chips.
Despite being subject to strict export controls, these high-performance GPUs were allegedly diverted for unauthorized use. Neither the company nor its personnel had applied for export licenses from the US Commerce Department, which is required when dealing with sensitive technology.
The suspects were arrested in California and have appeared in federal court. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison. The case highlights the growing scrutiny over AI chip exports amid rising concerns about national security and technological competition between the US and China.
ALX Solutions reportedly has no official website, though a related cloud computing firm lists itself as a subsidiary. Legal representation for the accused has not been confirmed.
