Super Micro's $2.5B Smuggling Case Puts the Chip War in Court

Export controls are only as strong as the prosecutions that enforce them, and for years the chip war has been prosecuted mostly in hearings and think-tank papers. The Super Micro indictment changes the evidentiary record. Three defendants — including the company's co-founder — now face charges tied to a $2.5 billion diversion scheme ^[18], and the charging document gives specific shape to what 'compliance theater' actually looks like when federal prosecutors decide to name it. This is not a story about a policy succeeding or failing. It is a…