Supermicro co-founder arrested for smuggling $2.5 billion NVIDIA GPUs to China, on the same day U.S. AI hardware imports set a record $1.2 trillion trade deficit. Both sides of regulatory failure have been exposed.

1｜Supermicro co-founder arrested, $2.5 billion NVIDIA chips flow into China

Supermicro co-founder Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw (71 years old) was indicted on Thursday in Manhattan federal court, charged with smuggling approximately $2.5 billion worth of NVIDIA AI servers to China through shell companies in Southeast Asia between 2024 and 2025. According to Fortune, goods worth $500 million were shipped within three weeks. The methods included forging purchase orders and placing "dummy servers" during compliance checks, while the real servers were already routed from Taiwan to mainland China. Supermicro's stock plummeted by 25%.

On the surface, it is an export control violation case, but underneath, AI chips have become more sensitive strategic materials than missiles, and the biggest loophole is not at the border, but within the companies themselves. On the same day, Tom's Hardware reported U.S. chip and computing hardware imports are expected to exceed $450 billion in 2025 (up 60% year-over-year), with record trade deficits reaching $1.2 trillion, and the deficit with Taiwan doubling to $147 billion. On one hand, $2.5 billion is smuggled out, while on the other hand, $450 billion flows in, showing regulatory systems are failing in both directions.

(Source: Fortune / CNBC / WSJ / Bloomberg / Tom's Hardware)

2｜Iran escalation: Trump considers ground occupation of Qeshm Island, Saudi warns $180 oil price

According to Axios, four insiders revealed that the Trump administration is considering occupying or blockading Iran's Qeshm Island. This island, located just 15 miles off the Iranian coast, handles 90% of Iran's crude oil exports. Last week, the U.S. military launched airstrikes on dozens of military targets on the island, with 2,500 Marines heading to the region. Trump previously stated, "We can take that island at any time."

On the same day, the WSJ quoted a Saudi Aramco official's judgment that if energy shocks persist beyond April, oil prices could soar to $180/barrel. Aviation fuel prices in Asia have reached $200/barrel, prompting the IEA to call for people in Asia to work from home and reduce travel. Meanwhile, Iran is developing a "review passage system" for the Strait of Hormuz, allowing only vessels approved by the IRGC to pass through "safe corridors," with traffic volume in the strait still 97% lower than normal levels. Morning reports indicated that the White House was considering relaxing Iranian oil sanctions, but by evening the script had flipped, and the option of a ground invasion was on the table.

(Source: Axios / WSJ / Al Jazeera / Fortune)

3｜OpenAI designates "automated researcher" as its North Star and then acquires Python infrastructure

According to MIT Technology Review, OpenAI Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki stated that the company is concentrating all research efforts on a single goal: to build a fully automated agent system capable of independently completing large research projects. The timeline is to launch "AI research interns" in September 2026 and a full version of the automated researcher in 2028. Sam Altman said, "In 2026, AI may make small discoveries, and by 2028, it could achieve major breakthroughs."

On the same day, OpenAI announced the acquisition of Python tool developer Astral, whose uv package manager and Ruff code formatting tool have become standard in the Python community. The Astral team will be incorporated into Codex, which has over 2 million weekly active users. On the surface, this is a research direction adjustment and an acquisition, but underneath, the AI competition has entered a recursive phase, where model companies no longer compete on who has the best model, but rather on who can make AI do the research for them first. In the morning, Cursor's self-developed model surpassed Claude, and OpenAI's response was not "to build a better model," but "to let AI do it itself."

(Source: MIT Technology Review / Reuters / Bloomberg)

4｜China approves the world's first commercial brain-machine interface, beating Neuralink

According to Wired and Nature, China's National Medical Products Administration has approved the market launch of Neuracle Technology's NEO brain-machine interface device for patients with paralysis due to spinal cord injuries. The device is implanted in the skull and uses 8 electrodes to read brain signals to drive a pneumatic mechanical glove. This is the first commercially approved invasive brain-machine interface product in the world.

Neuralink is not starting human trials until 2024, with Musk stating that it will "mass produce" this year, but regulatory approvals are still pending. At the same time, seven Chinese ministries jointly released a BCI industry blueprint, aiming for large-scale clinical applications by 2027 and nurturing domestic champion companies by 2030. Alibaba led a financing round of 500 million yuan for competitor StairMed. On the surface, it is a medical device approval, but underneath, China has secured another case in the matter of "regulatory speed equates to competitiveness"; whether it's AI large models or brain-machine interfaces, the first to land is not necessarily the strongest technology, but the one that aligns with regulatory industrial policies.

(Source: Wired / Nature / Bloomberg)

Also worth knowing ↓

Google released a free AI design tool, Stitch, causing Figma to drop 12% in two days. Stitch supports natural language generation of high-fidelity UIs and exports HTML/CSS, which Google calls "vibe design." In the short term, it may not replace Figma's professional processes, but it could cut off the pathway for the next generation of designers to enter Figma, with Figma having fallen 35% this year. (Source: CNBC)

SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic may become the largest three VC-backed IPOs in history. PitchBook estimates that the value created by their IPOs may exceed the total of all VC-backed IPOs since 2000. SpaceX reportedly plans to raise $50 billion at a valuation of $1.5 trillion, while the total amount of VC-supported IPOs for the entire year of 2021 was only $62.1 billion. (Source: Fortune / PitchBook)

Jensen Huang proposed including AI token subsidies in employee compensation structures. At the GTC conference, Huang stated that as AI agents reshape the way work is done, companies should allocate computing resources for inference as part of employee compensation. On the same day, he called on tech leaders not to spread fears about AI. (Source: CNBC / Bloomberg)

Morgan Stanley established the code MSBT for its Bitcoin ETF, with seed funding of $1 million. The Wall Street veteran continues to penetrate crypto infrastructure, with MSBT joining the competitive landscape of BTC ETFs alongside BlackRock iShares and Fidelity. (Source: CoinDesk)

Macquarie economists believe the Fed's next move will be to raise rates rather than lower them. The war in Iran is driving up inflation, and the benchmark interest rate of 3.5%-3.75% may increase rather than decrease. Previously, the market consensus was to continue normalizing rate cuts. (Source: Fortune)

Amazon plans to return to the smartphone market. According to exclusive reports from Reuters, more than ten years after the failure of the Fire Phone, Amazon is planning a new smartphone product line. (Source: Reuters)

Tesla begins hiring construction managers for the Terafab semiconductor plant. Musk's self-built chip plan has moved from PPT to the recruitment stage. (Source: Tom's Hardware)

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