Yih-Shyan ‘Wally’ Liaw was accused by US authorities of plotting to violate US export control regulations by smuggling high-performance computer servers built in the US with advanced AI capabilities to China.
This was not good news for Super Micro, a company he co-founded. In the aftermath of these developments, Super Micro Computers’ shares fell 14% in extended trading on Wall Street on Thursday.
Who Is Yih-Shyan ‘Wally’ Liaw?
The recent developments lead us to the question: Who is Yih-Shyan ‘Wally’ Liaw?
Liaw, as mentioned earlier, is the co-founder of Super Micro. As a co-founder of a company established in 1993, Liaw has been part of Super Micro’s rise over more than three decades, helping shape its growth into a significant player in the AI infrastructure ecosystem.
A US citizen, 71-year-old Liaw has spent decades helping build the firm into a key player in the server hardware space.
Within Super Micro, Liaw has held senior leadership roles across sales and business development, placing him at the centre of the company’s customer relationships and international expansion, particularly across the US and Asia. Since 2022, he has served as Senior Vice President for business development, following years in sales leadership.
His role has been closely tied to scaling the company’s global footprint—an important detail given Super Micro’s position as a major supplier of server systems built on hardware from Nvidia, which are widely used in artificial intelligence workloads.
Liaw’s international experience extends beyond Super Micro. In 2020, he was appointed President of the US arm of 2CRSi, where he oversaw operations across the US and East Asia—two regions central to the global technology supply chain.
Liaw’s Super Micro
Super Micro is a crucial name, as it is one of the largest vendors of server machines based on Nvidia’s products. Super Micro accounts for about 9% of Nvidia’s revenue, as per a report from Bloomberg. These Nvidia products, at least the advanced ones, cannot be exported to China at all under rules designed to protect US national security.
The Office of Public Affairs of the Department of Justice said that, between 2024 and 2025, they purchased approximately $2.5 billion worth of servers from a US manufacturer, many of which were assembled in the US.
Yih-Shyan ‘Wally’ Liaw, was arrested in California along with Ting-Wei ‘Willy’ Sun, 44, a company contractor. Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, a sales manager for the company in Taiwan, remains a fugitive. Liaw was eventually released on bail.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
When we look at the case, Liaw, Chang, and Sun are each charged with conspiracy to violate export controls. This violation carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years upon conviction. In addition to that, the trio has also been charged with conspiracy to defraud the US, which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Also Read: Super Micro shares tank 14% after co-founder charged for smuggling Nvidia chips to China
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