U.S.uncovers scheme to reroute NVDA chips to China

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The operation, dubbed “Operation Gatekeeper,” exposed efforts to funnel cutting-edge AI chips — with military and civilian applications — to entities that could undermine U.S. national security, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei for the Southern District of Texas.

Newly unsealed documents show that Alan Hao Hsu, 43, of Missouri City, Texas, and his company, Hao Global LLC, pleaded guilty to smuggling and unlawful export activities on Oct. 10.

Officials said Hsu and associates had exported or attempted to export at least $160 million worth of Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs between October 2024 and May 2025.

The H200 and H100 models, while not Nvidia’s most advanced chips, still require a special license to be shipped to China under current controls.

Hsu’s operation allegedly falsified shipping documents to misclassify the GPUs and hide their true destinations, including China, Hong Kong and other prohibited locations. Investigators traced more than $50 million in funds originating from China to help fund the scheme by Hsu and Hao Global.

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