US v. Lui: Earthmade Computer owner charged with routing H100 and RTX 5090 servers to China through Malaysia and Singapore

Earthmade owner charged over GPU servers routed to China

A federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned a three-count indictment against Greg Lui, also known as Yiu Kong Lui, on 29 September 2026. The case is United States v. Lui, 2:26-cr-00618 in the Central District of California.

The Justice Department announced his arrest on 1 October US time. It said Lui, 38, of San Gabriel, was due to make his initial appearance and be arraigned that afternoon.

The release says Lui smuggled more than $300 million in export-controlled servers with US-made GPUs to China.

Three counts against a City of Industry reseller

The indictment charges:

• conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act and the Export Administration Regulations
• outbound smuggling
• conspiracy to commit money laundering

It says Lui was chief executive of Earthmade Computer Inc., a City of Industry company set up in November 2023. It also describes Topmost Corp, another City of Industry company, and an unnamed US front company used to buy servers.

The indictment does not name the three US server makers. It says a sales manager at one of them was an unindicted co-conspirator who approved sales to Earthmade.

Malaysia and Singapore as the alleged route

The indictment says servers with NVIDIA A100, H100, GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 GPUs fall under ECCN 4A090.a. These need a license for export to China. It says Lui never applied for one.

Prosecutors allege the servers went to Malaysia and Singapore, where no license was needed, then on to China. The indictment cites these transactions:

• In January 2024, 27 H100 servers bought for about $7,614,000 went from Los Angeles County to Kuala Lumpur. In March, the Malaysian buyer's chief executive emailed a Malaysian government official that they had reached a Chinese purchaser.
• In June 2024, 92 servers flew from San Francisco to Kuala Lumpur, then on to Hong Kong. The Malaysian shipper listed the Chinese purchaser, a Hangzhou industrial company, as consignee.
• In July 2024, a US front company ordered 100 H100 servers for over $22 million, on Lui's instructions.

From January to October 2024, it says, Earthmade received over $80 million and $96 million from two Malaysian transshipment companies.

Charges only, with two figures to watch

An indictment is an allegation. Lui is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The dollar figures differ inside the filing. Paragraph 1 says "over 300 million dollars' worth" of servers. Paragraph 36 says Earthmade brokered "almost three hundred million dollars' worth."

The dates also differ. The Justice Department release describes the scheme as running from 2023 to 2024. The indictment's conspiracy count runs from no later than October 2023 until at least 12 August 2026.

The release lists maximum penalties of 20 years each on the conspiracy and money laundering counts, and 10 years on smuggling.

The Frontier checked the CourtListener docket at 15:50 SGT on 3 October. It showed only the indictment, entered 1 October. No plea, detention order or trial date was posted there.

Server makers, forwarders and Southeast Asian buyers

The case turns on paperwork. The indictment says Lui gave US manufacturers false end user documents and used freight forwarders to move servers out.

• Server OEMs and distributors should check end user statements, including BIS-711 forms, on orders bound for Malaysia and Singapore.
• Freight forwarders can expect scrutiny of airway bills where controlled servers transit Kuala Lumpur or Singapore.
• Compliance teams in Southeast Asia should note that prosecutors cite a Malaysian buyer's own email confirming the onward transfer to China.

For the current licensing rules on high-end accelerators, see H200 and MI325X China licenses go case-by-case, still not a general license. The related designer program is in BIS pushes Approved IC Designer applications to December 31, 2026.