March 25 (Reuters) - Shareholders of Super Micro

Computer ( SMCI ) sued the Silicon Valley server maker on

Wednesday, accusing it of committing securities fraud by

concealing its dependence on sales to China that violated U.S.

export laws, leading to criminal smuggling charges involving

Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips against a co-founder and two others linked

to the company.

In a proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal

court, shareholders said Super Micro overstated its business

prospects and inflated its stock price by knowingly failing to

disclose that a significant portion of server sales went to

companies in China, and the company had material weaknesses in

its compliance with export control laws.

Super Micro shares sank 33% on March 20 after criminal charges

were announced a day earlier against Yih-Shyan Liaw, a

co-founder and director; Ruei-Tsang Chang, a sales manager in

Taiwan; and Ting-Wei Sun, a contractor.

The decline wiped out about $6.1 billion of the San Jose,

California-based company's market value, and Liaw resigned from

Super Micro's board.

Other defendants in the civil lawsuit are Chief Executive

Charles Liang and Chief Financial Officer David Weigand. Super

Micro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Prosecutors in the criminal case said Liaw and Chang

directed an unnamed company in Southeast Asia to buy servers

with Nvidia's ( NVDA ) chips, and that the company bought $2.5 billion of

servers in 2024 and 2025.

Super Micro has said it is cooperating with the government,

and the alleged criminal conduct violates its policies. Neither

Super Micro nor Nvidia ( NVDA ) was criminally charged, and Nvidia ( NVDA ) is not

a defendant in the shareholder lawsuit.

It is common for shareholders to sue companies after

unexpected negative news causes stock prices to decline.

Wednesday's lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for Super

Micro investors between April 30, 2024, and March 19, 2026.