Chinese AI Company Discloses $92 Million in Banned Nvidia Chip Servers

TLDR

• Shenzhen firm Sharetronic Data Technology disclosed invoices showing $92 million worth of banned Nvidia chip servers
• The servers contain Nvidia H100 and H200 chips, banned from sale to China without US approval since 2022
• Sharetronic’s stock dropped nearly 10% after the news broke
• Super Micro and Dell both say they have no record of selling products to Sharetronic
• The disclosure comes hours after the US charged a Super Micro co-founder with smuggling Nvidia chips to China

Sharetronic Data Technology, a Shenzhen-based AI data center company, has disclosed invoices showing it purchased 276 Super Micro servers containing Nvidia H100 and H200 chips. The total value of those servers was 632 million yuan, or about $92 million.

NVIDIA Corporation, NVDA

The H100 and H200 chips have been banned from sale to China without permission from Washington since 2022. The US put the restrictions in place to limit China’s ability to develop AI technology that could help its military.

Bloomberg News found the invoices in records filed with Chinese government agencies. The invoices, dated May and June of last year, show sales from Sharetronic to one of its own subsidiaries.

The disclosure came on the same day US authorities charged Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, co-founder of Super Micro Computer, with illegally smuggling Nvidia-powered servers worth $2.5 billion to China. Liaw has pleaded not guilty.

Sharetronic’s stock fell nearly 10% in Shenzhen on Friday, making it the worst performer on the MSCI Asia Index that day.

What the Companies Are Saying

Sharetronic, in a statement, said all of its equipment came from “legal and compliant channels.” It did not directly answer questions about the invoices and declined to give more details about its equipment purchases, citing client confidentiality.

The company also denied having any business relationship with Super Micro.

It is not yet clear where Sharetronic obtained the servers. The invoices do not identify the original seller.

Sharetronic’s Ties to Nvidia

Sharetronic’s joint venture, Guangzhou Fcloud Technology, holds a designation as an Nvidia Cloud Partner, one of only eight such companies in China. This certification means Nvidia considers the firm capable of providing secure infrastructure for AI work.

After receiving that designation, Sharetronic announced plans to procure 32.2 billion yuan in hardware total.

The invoices also showed a smaller batch of 32 Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers. All hardware options compatible with those servers were subject to US export restrictions by the time the invoices were dated.

US prosecutors have not confirmed whether Sharetronic is among the unnamed Chinese customers in the Super Micro case.

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