Super Micro Computer stock is collapsing today. Investors flee as DOJ charges cofounder in AI China scheme

Shares in Super Micro Computer (Nasdaq: SMCI) are falling off a cliff this morning after news that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged the company’s cofounder and two other associates with conspiring to deliver restricted AI technology to China. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced that it was charging three men with ties to Super Micro Computer (aka Supermicro) for export-control violations related to AI technology. The three individuals, the DOJ alleges, conspired “to divert high-performance computer servers assembled in the United States and [integrated] sophisticated U.S. artificial intelligence technology to China.” The DOJ’s indictment did not specifically name Supermicro as the company that the men worked for, but listed one of the alleged conspirators as Yih-Shyan Liaw, who cofounded the server maker more than 30 years ago and currently sits on the company’