{"id":598618,"date":"2026-05-08T22:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T22:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=598618"},"modified":"2026-05-08T22:50:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T22:50:00","slug":"thailand-emerges-as-possible-hub-in-nvidia-chip-smuggling-channel-to-alibaba-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=598618","title":{"rendered":"Thailand Emerges As Possible Hub In Nvidia Chip-Smuggling Channel To Alibaba"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden\">Thailand Emerges As Possible Hub In Nvidia Chip-Smuggling Channel To Alibaba<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item\">\n<p>New details have emerged in the alleged <strong>AI chip diversion scheme<\/strong> involving the co-founder of Super Micro Computer.<\/p>\n<p>Bloomberg reports that <strong>some of the $2.5 billion worth of servers containing advanced AI chips<\/strong> were allegedly routed through a Bangkok-based company before reaching Chinese AI leader Alibaba.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-05-08\/us-said-to-suspect-nvidia-chips-smuggled-to-alibaba-via-thailand\">Bloomberg<\/a> report noted:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>US prosecutors this year outlined a scheme in which Super Micro&#8217;s co-founder allegedly worked with an unnamed Southeast Asian company and a &#8220;rotating cast&#8221; of third-party brokers to divert the AI semiconductors in violation of US trade rules.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Southeast Asian firm the prosecutors didn&#8217;t name, identified only as Company-1, is Bangkok-based OBON Corp., the people said.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Some of the $2.5 billion worth of servers sold to OBON allegedly went to Chinese AI leader Alibaba, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive legal and geopolitical matter.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It is important to note that OBON is linked to Thailand&#8217;s AI infrastructure buildout and the creation of Siam AI, Thailand&#8217;s sovereign cloud champion.<\/p>\n<p>Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang even appeared at a Siam AI event in December 2024, focused on sovereign AI. Siam AI&#8217;s CEO, Ratanaphon Wongnapachant, said Siam AI was not involved and that he had left OBON when he launched Siam AI.<\/p>\n<p>Washington has restricted exports of advanced Nvidia AI chips to China over national security concerns, leaving Chinese firms to either rent overseas computing resources or obtain chips through smuggling channels.<\/p>\n<p><a data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/2026-05-08_09-47-05.png?itok=7M2kdKZd\" data-link-option=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/2026-05-08_09-47-05.png?itok=7M2kdKZd\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"297f7587-3986-481b-8dbc-82c8b627bd22\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" height=\"285\" width=\"500\" class=\"inline-images image-style-inline-images\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/2026-05-08_09-47-05.png?itok=7M2kdKZd\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In mid-March, U<a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/technology\/super-micro-co-founder-charged-alleged-25-billion-nvidia-chip-smuggling-scheme\">.S. federal prosecutors<\/a> charged three men: senior executive Yih-Shyan &#8220;Wally&#8221; Liaw, the co-founder; Ruei-Tsang &#8220;Steven&#8221; Chang; and Ting-Wei &#8220;Willy&#8221; Sun, with conspiring to divert $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips to China.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>OBON&#8217;s purported involvement in the smuggling arrangement could deal a blow to Thailand&#8217;s fledgling AI ambitions and reignite calls in Washington for restrictions on chip sales to the region<\/strong>,&#8221; Bloomberg noted.<\/p>\n<p>Shares of Super Micro have since recovered from the mid-March plunge that followed the co-founder&#8217;s arrest by U.S. authorities.<\/p>\n<p><a data-image-external-href=\"\" data-image-href=\"\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/Snag_542cc7ea.png?itok=B-ZP7zEk\" data-link-option=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/s3\/files\/inline-images\/Snag_542cc7ea.png?itok=B-ZP7zEk\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-entity-type=\"file\" data-entity-uuid=\"e41999e7-70c2-4c93-81ca-3b1f51a65331\" data-responsive-image-style=\"inline_images\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\" class=\"inline-images image-style-inline-images\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/Snag_542cc7ea.png?itok=B-ZP7zEk\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Today&#8217;s report outlines how Thailand&#8217;s sovereign AI push may have served as a channel to smuggle advanced Nvidia chips to China.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>      <span class=\"field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden\"><a title=\"View user profile.\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.zerohedge.com\/users\/tyler-durden\" lang=\"\" class=\"username\" xml:lang=\"\">Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden\">Fri, 05\/08\/2026 &#8211; 18:50<\/span><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.zerohedge.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_mobile\/public\/inline-images\/2026-05-08_09-47-05.png?itok=7M2kdKZd\" title=\"Thailand Emerges As Possible Hub In Nvidia Chip-Smuggling Channel To Alibaba\" \/><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thailand Emerges As Possible Hub In Nvidia Chip-Smuggling Channel To Alibaba New details have emerged in the alleged AI chip diversion scheme involving the co-founder of Super Micro Computer. Bloomberg reports that some of the $2.5 billion worth of servers containing advanced AI chips were allegedly routed through a Bangkok-based company before reaching Chinese AI&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=598618\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Thailand Emerges As Possible Hub In Nvidia Chip-Smuggling Channel To Alibaba<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":598609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,10,21,12,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-598618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancel-culture","category-censorship","category-civil-liberties","category-election-integrity","category-equal-justice","category-free-speech","category-religious-freedom","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=598618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/598609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=598618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=598618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=598618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}