AsianFin -- U.S. authorities have charged two Chinese nationals with illegally exporting tens of millions of dollars' worth of advanced Nvidia Corp. AI chips to China, in a case that underscores Washington's crackdown on unauthorized technology transfers amid escalating U.S.-China tech tensions.

The Justice Department said the individuals were arrested this week for allegedly using a California-based company to ship restricted technology — including Nvidia’s high-end graphics processing units (GPUs) — to China without securing the required export licenses.

According to a criminal complaint unsealed on Tuesday, the defendants exported Nvidia-designed semiconductors such as the H100 AI accelerator chips, which are critical components in systems that train and run large artificial intelligence models. Under current U.S. export controls, shipments of such chips to certain foreign entities or countries require prior government approval.

“The defendants sought to circumvent U.S. export restrictions designed to protect critical technologies from falling into the hands of adversaries,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

The arrests come as Washington intensifies efforts to tighten control over the global supply chain of advanced semiconductors, particularly AI-related hardware, which is seen as a key strategic asset in the ongoing tech rivalry with Beijing.