Greg Lui Routed $300 Million in GPU Servers Through Malaysia

Federal agents arrested California reseller Greg Lui on Oct. 1, 2026, on charges he sent more than $300 million in export-controlled servers to China. Lui, 38, of San Gabriel, owns Earthmade Computer Inc. in the City of Industry.

The charges say the machines, packed with Nvidia A100 and H100 chips, left the United States on forms that named Malaysia and Singapore, then went on to a Hangzhou buyer. Those servers already left in 2024. Prosecutors are now charging the false third-country paperwork that got them out.

The Purchase Orders Named Malaysia and Singapore

A June 2026 grand jury in Los Angeles returned a three-count indictment on Sept. 29, 2026. Lui is charged with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and the Export Administration Regulations, outbound smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The Justice Department said a conviction on those counts could bring a maximum of 20 years on the export conspiracy, 20 years on the money-laundering count, and 10 years on smuggling. He is presumed innocent.

The charging paper says Lui and five unindicted co-conspirators ran a conspiracy running through August 12, 2026 that began no later than October 2023. They ordered high-end servers from three unnamed U.S. makers, told those makers the end users sat in countries that did not need a Commerce Department license, and then moved the goods to China. Earthmade never applied for a Bureau of Industry and Security license to send ECCN 4A090.a items to China, the indictment says, and the listed chips include Nvidia A100 and H100 GPUs plus PNY GeForce RTX 4090 and GeForce RTX 5090 cards.

Protecting America’s national security means keeping our advanced Super Intelligence technology from being used to strengthen our adversaries’ military capabilities. This defendant allegedly used false paperwork and shipments through third countries to smuggle more than $300 million in export-controlled computer servers to China. We will aggressively prosecute those who put our national security at risk for profit.

Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Central District of California, Justice Department statement Oct. 1, 2026

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg called SI “the defining technology of the era” and said the National Security Division would protect “the American advantage in the chips that power this technology.” FBI Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky said the bureau’s investigation found Lui “allegedly sold the Chinese government hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of American Super Intelligence technology.” The indictment names the buyer as a Chinese industrial company based in Hangzhou, not a government ministry.

THE 2024 SHIPMENTS PROSECUTORS CITED

On Jan. 11, 2024, Lui emailed a co-conspirator that Malaysian Transshipment Company 1 wanted 70 H100 servers, and he attached export-compliance forms that said the Malaysian firm knew U.S. rules barred sale or transshipment of those chips to China. He then placed the $7,614,000 order with U.S. Manufacturer 2 on Jan. 30 and, with Unindicted Co-Conspirator 2, shipped 27 H100 servers from Los Angeles County to Kuala Lumpur the next day. The packing list flagged the GPUs as export-controlled. On March 12, 2024, that same co-conspirator emailed a Malaysian government official that the 27 servers had been transshipped to the Hangzhou purchaser.

Earthmade Opened After the 2023 Chip Rules

Earthmade Computer Inc. was formed on or about Nov. 10, 2023, as a closely held corporation in the City of Industry. Coindigger, another closely held firm at the same place, did business as Earthmade. Lui was chief executive and registered agent of both. The company itself has not been charged.

That incorporation landed weeks after the Commerce Department’s Oct. 25, 2023, interim final rules that widened advanced-computing controls aimed at China, building on the Oct. 7, 2022, chip measures. The indictment says Nvidia A100, H100, RTX 4090, and RTX 5090 GPUs all sit under ECCN 4A090.a and need a license for China, including Hong Kong.

THE EARTHMADE CALENDAR

1. October 7, 2022: Commerce begins advanced-computing integrated-circuit controls that cover China.
2. October 25, 2023: BIS issues expanded semiconductor and advanced-computing rules, effective Nov. 17, 2023.
3. October 2023: Charged conspiracy begins no later than this month.
4. November 10, 2023: Earthmade Computer Inc. is established in the City of Industry.
5. February 24, 2024: Topmost Corp is formed in the same city and later appears on buyer paperwork.
6. July 14, 2025: Malaysia requires notice and a permit for U.S.-origin advanced AI chips in export, transshipment, and transit.
7. September 29, 2026: The indictment is returned; the White House issues Executive Order 14434 on Super Intelligence wording.
8. October 1, 2026: Lui is arrested. The FBI, BIS export enforcement, and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service are listed as the investigating agencies.

Topmost sits at the center of the 100-server order. Prosecutors say a U.S. front company told U.S. Manufacturer 3 that Topmost was the buyer and that the servers would go to Malaysian Transshipment Company 2. The Topmost file named “Jackie Lui” as chief executive. In 2021, the indictment says, the defendant bought identifying documents of a person whose papers were then used in that file.

How $176 Million Reached a City of Industry Shop

Between January and October 2024, the indictment assigns $80 million of incoming funds to Malaysian Transshipment Company 1 and $96 million to Malaysian Transshipment Company 2. Company 1 was formed on or about Oct. 22, 1999, and, the grand jury says, primarily focused on lumber, plywood, millwork, and wood panels. Company 2 is described as a front company in Malaysia. In return, Lui allegedly introduced those firms to U.S. makers that could supply Nvidia hardware and brokered almost $300 million in sales from Manufacturers 1, 2, and 3.

The hop is simple on paper and ugly in the emails. U.S. freight forwarders moved the servers to Malaysia or Singapore, where a Commerce license was not required for those destinations, and co-conspirators then reshipped to China. Export bans do not have to be beaten at a U.S. dock if the first bill of lading names Kuala Lumpur or Singapore and the second bill is cut overseas.

WHO THE INDICTMENT SAYS RAN THE HOP

• Unindicted Co-Conspirator 1: A sales manager at U.S. Manufacturer 1 who approved high-end sales to Earthmade.
• Unindicted Co-Conspirator 2: Chief executive of Malaysian Transshipment Company 1, the lumber-and-plywood firm that took the January 2024 Kuala Lumpur shipment.
• Unindicted Co-Conspirator 3: An Earthmade office manager and a signatory on Topmost bank accounts.
• Unindicted Co-Conspirator 4: Listed as chief technology officer of Malaysian Transshipment Company 1, described instead as an international broker of export-controlled servers and the incorporator of Topmost.
• Unindicted Co-Conspirator 5: An executive at U.S. Freight Forwarder 1, which coordinated lifts from the three U.S. makers.

On April 30, 2024, the sales manager at Manufacturer 1 emailed Lui a quotation for 512 export-controlled servers. Lui placed that order the next day as purchase order PO05012024001. On June 12, an employee at Manufacturer 1 wrote that 92 servers from that order were ready to ship on June 14 to Earthmade in Los Angeles County. The indictment does not put a dollar figure on those 92 machines, and it does not say all 512 quoted units moved.

China Booked $3.75 Billion of Malaysian Servers

Lui’s file is large for a City of Industry shop and small next to the customs gap on the same lane. Epoch AI researcher Isabel Juniewicz wrote in a Sept. 17, 2026, data note that, from April 2024 to June 2025, China recorded $3.75 billion of Malaysian-origin servers under HS-6 847150 at about $106,000 a machine, while Malaysia recorded only $0.6 billion of server exports to China. The two sides agree, roughly, on count: 36,700 machines in Malaysia’s UN filing, 35,500 in China’s books. They disagree by about six times on value, because Malaysia’s implied price is about $17,000 a unit.

Juniewicz does not treat that gap as proof of diversion. She writes that the pattern is consistent with known smuggling cases in which intermediaries routed AI servers through Malaysia and declared them as ordinary machines, and that the flow could account for roughly 150,000 H100-equivalents of compute. Ordinary servers are too cheap to carry most of $3.75 billion, so the note divides the customs value by Nvidia H100 prices in Epoch’s chip-sales set. That estimate would fall if the customs line is mostly chassis and markup, and it would rise if some of the chips were more cost-efficient Blackwell parts.

MALAYSIA-CHINA SERVER TRADE, CUSTOMS VALUES

Other countries that booked Malaysian-origin servers in the same window paid much less per box: about $1,500 in the United States, $6,200 in Singapore, $11,700 in Hong Kong, and $23,000 in Japan, against China’s $106,000. The elevated prices, Juniewicz writes, line up with AI servers rather than commodity boxes, and the surge starts a few months after Washington’s October 2023 ban on Nvidia’s A800 and H800 chips for China, which until then were the highest-performing GPUs still legal to sell there.

On that reading, Earthmade is one prosecuted node. The $80 million and $96 million that hit its accounts in 2024 sit inside a Malaysia-China price wedge that, at the high end, is measured in billions, not hundreds of millions. The chips in the January packing list were already in motion while that wedge was opening.

Kuala Lumpur Required a Permit in July 2025

Malaysia’s Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry moved on the transit problem on July 14, 2025. Strategic Trade Controller Vimala Murugan issued Directive of the Strategic Trade Controller No. 1/2025 under section 12 of the Strategic Trade Act 2010, a catch-all that covers unlisted advanced AI chips. Exporters, freight forwarders, and other intermediaries who know or have reason to suspect a restricted use must notify Malaysia’s trade ministry 30 days in advance, then apply for a Strategic Trade Act permit if the authority allows the shipment to go ahead. False declarations can be enforced under Act 708. The directive took effect that day and remains in force until further notice.

Epoch’s monthly series shows the high-price flow winding down about two months after that order, consistent with goods already cleared, the 30-day notice, and shipping times. Average monthly value falls from $250 million in the April 2024 to June 2025 window to $50 million from September 2025 to June 2026, and the average price per machine drops from $105,700 to $11,600. The indictment still charges a conspiracy through at least Aug. 12, 2026. The dollar examples it spells out, and the $80 million and $96 million payments, cluster in 2024, before Kuala Lumpur started asking for permits.

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Enforcement David A. Peters said BIS would use “all lawful means to protect national security and hold violators accountable.” DCIS Special Agent in Charge John E. Helsing said the technologies “provide core advantages to U.S. forces.” Those lines describe a chase after hardware that, on the 2024 packing lists, had already cleared Los Angeles.

A U.S. Sales Manager Approved the Server Orders

The indictment leaves the three U.S. manufacturers unnamed, and it leaves the Malaysian firms unnamed. It does name a role that sits on the U.S. side of the first invoice: a sales manager at Manufacturer 1 who approved the sale of high-end technology to Earthmade, quoted 512 controlled servers, and was copied when 92 of them were ready in Los Angeles. Freight forwarders 1 and 2 coordinated the lifts. The servers were standard product from firms that “designed and built high-performance computer servers for artificial intelligence and cloud computing applications.”

Nvidia, whose chips fill the charged boxes, has said smuggling is a nonstarter and that it primarily sells to well-known partners, including original equipment manufacturers, who help keep sales inside U.S. export rules. The company has also said its due diligence has helped identify suspected attempts to get around those rules and has led to federal prosecutions. The Lui file is one of those cases. It is not the largest. In March 2026 the Justice Department charged Super Micro Computer co-founder Yih-Shyan Liaw and two others with diverting $2.5 billion of Nvidia-equipped servers toward China, including about $510 million of U.S.-assembled B200 and H200 machines in a stretch from late April to mid-May 2025. Super Micro was not charged in that indictment. Earthmade is not charged in this one.

The vocabulary shifted on the same day the grand jury voted. Executive Order 14434, signed Sept. 29, 2026, directs the executive branch, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to use the terms Super Intelligence and SI in place of Artificial Intelligence and AI in official correspondence and public communications. The Justice Department release on Oct. 1 follows that order almost line for line. The indictment filed the same day as the order still describes the servers as commonly used for artificial intelligence applications, because it is a charging document, not a press release.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The charges: One count each of export-control conspiracy, outbound smuggling, and money-laundering conspiracy in case 2:26-cr-00618-ODW, Central District of California.
• The 2024 cash: $80 million from one Malaysian transshipment firm and $96 million from a second, plus a $7,614,000 H100 order that a co-conspirator later said had gone to Hangzhou.
• The chips named: Nvidia A100, H100, PNY GeForce RTX 4090, and GeForce RTX 5090, all listed under ECCN 4A090.a, with no BIS license on file.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The makers: U.S. Manufacturers 1, 2, and 3 are not named, so it is not public which firms cashed the Earthmade purchase orders.
• The Malaysian firms: Company 1’s lumber description is in the indictment; their legal names are not.
• A plea: The Oct. 1 release said Lui was expected to appear that afternoon. No plea is on the public charging paper.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Colin S. Scott and Joseph S. Guzman, and National Security Division trial attorney Eli Ross, are prosecuting. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander Su is handling forfeiture. The January 2024 packing list already said the 27 H100 servers could not go to China without a license. The March email said they had. Those machines are not coming back in this case file.