(MENAFN) Tensions in the US-China semiconductor battle surged anew after the US Department of Justice charged two Chinese nationals for “knowingly and willfully” shipping Nvidia H100 artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China without proper authorization. Concurrently, Taiwan reportedly apprehended three individuals accused of stealing trade secrets from its leading chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).

The longstanding tech confrontation between Washington and Beijing, which escalated following US sanctions on Huawei in 2019, has expanded to include allegations of espionage amid a growing web of export bans on chips and raw materials.

The DOJ’s indictment names Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang as defendants accused of illegally exporting Nvidia’s advanced H100 chips from October 2022 through July 2025, bypassing licensing rules designed to restrict Chinese access to sensitive technology.

In parallel, Taiwanese authorities detained three suspects linked to the unauthorized acquisition of proprietary technology from TSMC, although their identities remain undisclosed.

Nvidia’s H100 chip—central to this unfolding espionage controversy—is critical in powering large language models such as GPT-4, handling complex neural language processing and other AI functions.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang highlighted the intense rivalry between the US and China in developing AI chips, stressing that the US must adopt energy policies to support its growing tech sector. He also issued a strong warning about Huawei’s ambitions, noting that the Chinese company has started manufacturing its own AI chips—particularly the 910C model—which is poised to challenge Nvidia’s products, with several companies already placing orders.

US chipmakers maintain a dominant position globally, with six of the world’s top ten companies by market capitalization headquartered in America. Nvidia leads with a staggering $4.4 trillion valuation, followed by Broadcom ($1.4 trillion), Taiwan’s TSMC ($1.2 trillion), South Korea’s Samsung ($335 billion), and AMD ($278 billion). The top ten also include the Netherlands’ ASML, and US-based Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Applied Materials, alongside UK’s Arm Holdings.

According to the World Population Review’s “Semiconductor Manufacturing by Country 2025” report, Taiwan leads in semiconductor production volume, ahead of South Korea, Japan, the US, and China.

This intensifying saga underscores the critical strategic importance of semiconductor technology as a focal point in global geopolitical rivalry.

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