Super Micro Executives Indicted for Export Control Violations

Catch up on the top industries and stocks that were impacted, or were predicted to be impacted, by the comments, actions and policies of President Donald Trump with this daily recap compiled by The Fly.EXPORT CONTROL VIOLATION:United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence and Espionage Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Roman Rozhavsky, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the FBI, James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced the unsealing of an Indictment charging Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang, and Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, for conspiring to divert high-performance computer servers assembled in the United States and integrating sophisticated U.S. artificial intelligence technology to China, in violation of U.S. export controls laws. Liaw, a U.S. citizen, and Sun, a citizen of Taiwan, were arrested today and presented in the Northern District of California. Chang, a citizen of Taiwan, remains a fugitive. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos. Liaw is a co-founder, board member, and Senior Vice President of Business Development of publicly traded U.S.-based manufacturer Super Micro Computer, which designs and builds high-performance computer servers for artificial intelligence and cloud computing applications, including servers that integrate artificial intelligence graphics processing units. Chang is a general manager in the U.S. Manufacturer's Taiwan office. Sun is a third-party broker and "fixer" who has worked with Liaw, Chang, and others to divert U.S.-export controlled technology to China. Together, the defendants and others conspired to systematically divert the U.S. Manufacturer's servers with certain GPUs to China without a license to do so from the U.S. Department of Commerce. According to the indictment filed with the court, the U.S. manufacturer's flagship products, namely servers integrating GPUs manufactured by Nvidia, are subject to strict U.S. export controls barring their sale to China without a license.INDICTMENT:Super Micro issued a statement on the export control indictment. The company stated, "Super Micro Computer was informed today that the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has unsealed an indictment of three individuals associated with the Company in connection with an alleged conspiracy to commit export-control violations. Supermicro is not named as a defendant in the indictment. The individuals charged are Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, Senior Vice President of Business Development and a member of the Company's Board of Directors; Ruei-Tsang "Steven" Chang, a sales manager in Taiwan; and Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, a contractor. Supermicro has placed the two employees on administrative leave and terminated its relationship with the contractor, effective immediately. The conduct by these individuals alleged in the indictment is a contravention of the Company's policies and compliance controls, including efforts to circumvent applicable export control laws and regulations. Supermicro maintains a robust compliance program and is committed to full adherence to all applicable U.S. export and re-export control laws and regulations. The Company has been cooperating fully with the government's investigation and will continue to do so. Supermicro has not been named as a defendant in the indictment."BAD LOOK:Super Micro Computer faces reputational and compliance risks after the SDNY unsealed an indictment against three individuals tied to the company for allegedly conspiring to export Nvidia GPU-based servers to China illegally, Raymond James tells investors in a research note. While the company is not a defendant and is cooperating with authorities, the incident adds to existing governance and reporting concerns, and is a "bad look," as it could trigger increased regulatory scrutiny, and may affect customer trust and supply chain relationships, the firm says. Raymond James has an Outperform rating on the shares.SERIOUS CREDIBILITY ISSUES:Bernstein keeps a Market Perform rating on Super Micro after three individuals associated with the company were indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for allegedly conspiring to commit export-control violations. Despite SMCI not being named as a defendant, the news "raises serious credibility issues that could impact business," the firm tells investors in a research note. Bernstein wonders if Nvidiamight feel the need to further distance itself from SMCI. If so, this could impact SMCI's important supply of graphic processing units, which "could have devastating impact" on the business, the firm contends.TEGNA TAKEOVER:Nexstar Media Groupannounced that it has closed its acquisition of Tegnafollowing approval of the transaction from the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Department of Justice. Nexstar's Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer, Perry Sook commented: "This transaction is essential to sustaining strong local journalism in the communities we serve. By bringing these two outstanding companies together, Nexstar will be a stronger, more dynamic enterprise-better positioned to deliver exceptional journalism and local programming with enhanced assets, capabilities, and talent. We are grateful to President Trump, Chairman Carr, and the DOJ for recognizing the dynamic forces shaping the media landscape and enabling this transaction to move forward."