A Thai company called OBON Corp. allegedly served as the middleman in a multi-billion-dollar smuggling operation that routed restricted Nvidia AI servers through Southeast Asia and into the hands of Chinese customers, including Alibaba.
The US Justice Department’s indictment, filed in March 2026, charges Super Micro Computer executives with facilitating the scheme. The total value of servers purchased through the operation: $2.5 billion during 2024 and 2025.
How the alleged scheme worked
The playbook, according to prosecutors, was straightforward in concept if audacious in scale. OBON Corp., a Bangkok-based company tied to Thailand’s broader AI ambitions, purchased Super Micro servers equipped with advanced Nvidia chips. Those servers then made their way to customers in China, effectively bypassing US export controls that have restricted high-end Nvidia chips from reaching Chinese buyers since 2022.
The specific chips in question include models like the H200 and B300, the kind of silicon that powers the most demanding AI workloads.
The pace of the operation accelerated dramatically in spring 2025. More than $500 million worth of servers were shipped within a narrow window from April to mid-May 2025 alone.
In court filings, OBON is referred to as “Company-1.” Bloomberg sources identified Company-1 as OBON Corp. The company itself has not been directly charged in the indictment. The charges land squarely on Super Micro executives who prosecutors say facilitated the shipments through Southeast Asia.
Alibaba says it has nothing to do with this
Alibaba, named as one of the end recipients in the alleged scheme, is pushing back hard. The Chinese tech giant stated it has “no business relationships to Super Micro, OBON or other third-party brokers named in the indictment.”
The company went further, claiming it has “never used banned NVIDIA chips in its data centers.”
The bigger picture on chip export controls
The US has been tightening restrictions on advanced semiconductor exports to China since 2022, with Nvidia’s most powerful AI chips sitting at the center of the policy.
Nvidia itself has warned that diverted systems, meaning servers rerouted through intermediaries to sanctioned buyers, receive no technical support from the company.
The indictment also landed like a brick on Super Micro’s stock price. The March filing triggered a sharp selloff in Super Micro shares. The gray market for restricted chips reportedly weakened further in the aftermath.
