LIVE · FRI, JUL 03, 2026 --:--:-- ET

Issue Nº 73 COST TOTAL $14661.35 ARTICLES TODAY 0 TOKENS TOTAL 9.30B

Running the wire

Funding TwelveLabs raises $100M Series B to build video understanding for enterprise AI agents Funding LeapXpert raises $180M growth round led by Riverwood Capital for AI-governed enterprise messaging Funding Together AI closes $800M Series C at $8.3B valuation as open-source inference demand surges Breaking Amazon Leo deploys 390+ satellites; ready to launch initial commercial service by end of 2026 Market Trump bought AAPL, NVDA as markets tumbled April 8; tariff reversal next day lifted S&P 9.5% Funding Joulent lands $1.75B from National Grid; powers Microsoft data center with 2.67 GW Project Kilby Breaking Apple PCC goes to Google Cloud; stacks NVIDIA + Intel + Google Titan for confidential inference Funding Together AI closes $800M Series C at $8.3B valuation as AI infra consolidates Funding Together AI raises $800M Series C at $8.3B, backed by Aramco and 500 MW of independent compute commitments Funding 8090 Labs closes $135M Series A led by Salesforce; Chamath assumes CEO role Breaking National Grid invests $1.75B in Joulent; 2.67 GW Microsoft data center power plant by 2028 Funding Together AI raises $800M at $8.3B valuation, plans 50x capacity growth Chips SK hynix Plans $712.5B South Korea Investment: HBM, NAND, New Semiconductor Cluster Market CoreWeave bonds slide as Meta plans competing in-house AI cloud infrastructure Market Chipmakers tank on oversupply fears as SK Hynix drops 14.6%, Samsung 9.1%; Micron down 10%+ Funding Together AI raises $305M Series B as DeepSeek reasoning demand drives infrastructure spending Funding Quantum Systems raises $1.2B at $8B valuation as European drone defense spending accelerates Breaking Supermicro denies Taiwan office raid in GPU smuggling probe; employees under investigation for export violations Chips Turkey launches $5B chip incentive plan; Elin Energy breaks ground on $400M semiconductor fab in Sivas Market Tesla deliveries surge 25% YoY to 480K in Q2, beating Wall Street consensus by 18% Funding TwelveLabs raises $100M Series B to build video understanding for enterprise AI agents Funding LeapXpert raises $180M growth round led by Riverwood Capital for AI-governed enterprise messaging Funding Together AI closes $800M Series C at $8.3B valuation as open-source inference demand surges Breaking Amazon Leo deploys 390+ satellites; ready to launch initial commercial service by end of 2026 Market Trump bought AAPL, NVDA as markets tumbled April 8; tariff reversal next day lifted S&P 9.5% Funding Joulent lands $1.75B from National Grid; powers Microsoft data center with 2.67 GW Project Kilby Breaking Apple PCC goes to Google Cloud; stacks NVIDIA + Intel + Google Titan for confidential inference Funding Together AI closes $800M Series C at $8.3B valuation as AI infra consolidates Funding Together AI raises $800M Series C at $8.3B, backed by Aramco and 500 MW of independent compute commitments Funding 8090 Labs closes $135M Series A led by Salesforce; Chamath assumes CEO role Breaking National Grid invests $1.75B in Joulent; 2.67 GW Microsoft data center power plant by 2028 Funding Together AI raises $800M at $8.3B valuation, plans 50x capacity growth Chips SK hynix Plans $712.5B South Korea Investment: HBM, NAND, New Semiconductor Cluster Market CoreWeave bonds slide as Meta plans competing in-house AI cloud infrastructure Market Chipmakers tank on oversupply fears as SK Hynix drops 14.6%, Samsung 9.1%; Micron down 10%+ Funding Together AI raises $305M Series B as DeepSeek reasoning demand drives infrastructure spending Funding Quantum Systems raises $1.2B at $8B valuation as European drone defense spending accelerates Breaking Supermicro denies Taiwan office raid in GPU smuggling probe; employees under investigation for export violations Chips Turkey launches $5B chip incentive plan; Elin Energy breaks ground on $400M semiconductor fab in Sivas Market Tesla deliveries surge 25% YoY to 480K in Q2, beating Wall Street consensus by 18%

Breaking Thursday, July 2, 2026 at 02:32 PM

Supermicro denies Taiwan office raid in GPU smuggling probe; employees under investigation for export violations

Supermicro pushed back against characterizations of an office 'raid' by Taiwanese authorities investigating alleged NVIDIA GPU smuggling by company employees. Chief Revenue Officer Matt Thauberger stated the company 'voluntarily' gave investigators access to employee workstations and electronic devices suspected of violating U.S. export controls, and that the company has been cooperating since May 2026. Supermicro confirmed with the Taiwanese government it is not under investigation itself.

The Taiwan probe is part of a broader crackdown on GPU smuggling routes to China. Three individuals linked to Supermicro, including co-founder Yih-Shyan 'Wally' Liaw, were arrested in the U.S. on charges of conspiring to violate the Export Controls Reform Act. They allegedly softened glue on thousands of banned server serial numbers with hairdryers, transferred them to dummy units to obscure tracking, and shipped them via Thailand-based entities before they landed in Alibaba warehouses.

Taiwan does not have domestic export-control laws matching the U.S., so authorities are applying loose interpretations of fraud and money-laundering statutes to investigate. Singapore is pursuing similar cases with asset seizures ($42 million mansion, $772,000 in bank accounts from alleged smugglers). NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang publicly urged Supermicro to fix export compliance gaps.

The scandal has eroded investor confidence: Supermicro stock fell 8% on news, and the export-control violations create reputational and legal risk across customer relationships. For architects evaluating supplier reliability, the incident underscores supply-chain vulnerability and the enforcement risk when buying restricted hardware through intermediaries or partners with weaker compliance controls.

Source: tomshardware.com →