FBI and Commerce Department agents handcuffed Greg Lui at gunpoint as he arrived at the City of Industry headquarters of his company, Earthmade Computers, in a stealth raid on Thursday. The 38-year-old San Gabriel resident faces federal charges for allegedly smuggling more than $300 million in export-controlled AI graphics processors from Nvidia to China between 2023 and 2024. Prosecutors allege Lui used his company to deceive suppliers and bypass trade restrictions to ship high-end servers that could be utilized by the Chinese military.

The smuggling operation routed hardware through Malaysia and Singapore, where US export licensing requirements are not enforced, by using fake documentation to hide the final destination. Court documents show that from January to October 2024, Earthmade received more than $176 million from two Malaysian transshipment firms to facilitate the scheme. Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg stated the National Security Division is acting to protect the American advantage in "SI" technology, which he described as the defining technology of the era.