Photo: Moment RF
A smuggling ring connected to a Houston business has been busted for moving Nvidia chips into China. It also led to the arrests of a Chinese national based out of New York and a Canadian citizen.
The chips in question—Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs—are used primarily for advanced AI, and the United States bars China from accessing them. Hao Global LLC and its owner, 43-year-old Alan Hao Hsu, attempted to export around $160 million worth of them illegally.
China expert and author Gordon Chang says this is unfortunately likely just one of many smuggling rings participating in this type of activity. “Places like Singapore have been hubs for this smuggling,” he said. “We should be very concerned about chip sales to places that have a history of being channels to the People’s Republic of China.”
He says China wants these chips because, whether they admit it or not, these chips—along with similar ones made by Nvidia’s competitor AMD—are far more advanced than anything China has been able to produce.
Chang also pointed out that this isn’t the first time Houston has found itself at the center of CCP espionage operations. “In the first Trump administration, Secretary of State Pompeo closed China’s consulate in Houston, and he specifically mentioned espionage activities,” he said.