Aug 5 (Reuters) - Two Chinese nationals were arrested in

California and charged with illegally shipping tens of millions

of dollars' worth of AI chips to China, including Nvidia H100s,

the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday.

Chuan Geng, 28, of Pasadena, and Shiwei Yang, 28, of El

Monte, exported the advanced Nvidia ( NVDA ) chips and other technology

to China from October 2022 through July 2025 without obtaining

the required licenses from the U.S. Commerce Department, a

criminal complaint says.

According to the complaint, Geng and Yang's El Monte-based

company, ALX Solutions Inc, was founded in 2022, shortly after

the U.S. imposed sweeping export controls on technology to China

and began to require licenses for the chips.

A spokesperson for Nvidia ( NVDA ) declined comment.

Over 20 shipments from ALX solutions went to shipping and

freight forwarding companies in Singapore and Malaysia, which

are often used as transshipment points for illegal goods to

China.

ALX received a $1 million payment from a China-based company

in January 2024 and other payments from companies in Hong Kong

and China, not the freight forwarding companies.

Nvidia H100s are advanced chips that can be used to train

large language models and for other applications, such as

developing self-driving cars and medical diagnosis systems.

Records show that from at least August 2023 to July 2024,

ALX Solutions bought over 200 Nvidia H100 chips from San Jose,

Calif-based server maker Super Micro Computer ( SMCI ), declaring that

the end users were in Singapore and Japan.

Super Micro did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

In addition to Nvidia's ( NVDA ) H100s, the pair are accused of

illegally shipping Nvidia ( NVDA ) video graphics cards known as PNY GE

Force RTX 4090, which also require a license for export to

China.

Geng and Yang appeared in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles

late Monday, according to the Justice Department. Geng, a

permanent resident, was released on $250,000 bond. Yang, who

overstayed her visa, has a detention hearing on August 12.