DoJ takes down sophisticated network smuggling $160m worth of AI chips to China

• DoJ dismantled a smuggling ring moving $160M worth of Nvidia H100/H200 GPUs to China, arresting two suspects
• Operation Gatekeeper revealed chips were relabeled “SANDKYAN” to evade export controls, threatening U.S. AI security
• Despite the crackdown, President Trump authorized Nvidia to sell its GPUs to China legally

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) took down a major smuggling operation that saw Nvidia chips being shipped to China, despite the export ban. Two people were arrested in the process.

In October 2025, US law enforcement arrested one Alan Hao Hsu, of Missouri, Texas. He confessed using his company, Hao Global LLC, to smuggle Nvidia chips worth at least $160 million, to China. The models being shipped included H100 and H200 Tensor Core GPUs, both used for AI apps and high-performance computing.

Now, in a continuation of that activity, the DoJ said two people were arrested: Benlin Yuan ...