Super Micro Computer shares fell more than 11% on Thursday after reports that the US Department of Justice is investigating whether entities linked to Alice Huang were involved in efforts to smuggle the server maker’s products into China. The decline reversed much of Wednesday’s 11% rally, which had been driven by the launch of the company’s new H15 servers using AMD’s sixth-generation EPYC 9006 processors.
According to Semafor, multiple DOJ investigations could involve Nvidia, with one inquiry focusing on potential antitrust violations and two others involving Super Micro and Megaspeed International. The report said there was no indication prosecutors would seek criminal charges against Nvidia or its former CEO Jensen Huang at this stage.
Bloomberg separately reported that the DOJ is examining whether entities linked to Alice Huang were involved in efforts to divert Super Micro products to China. The inquiry is being led by the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. Prosecutors are also investigating Megaspeed, Alice Huang’s former company, over suspected semiconductor smuggling. The company has denied wrongdoing.
The legal scrutiny comes after Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO on Thursday following reports of two extramarital relationships, including one involving Alice Huang, whom US authorities reportedly suspect of having links to Chinese intelligence. Nvidia has appointed CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO while it searches for a permanent successor.
Before the DOJ reports, Supermicro had announced it began shipping its H15 servers powered by AMD’s sixth-generation EPYC 9006 “Venice” processors, released on November 10. The lineup includes more than 20 systems covering servers, storage, workstations and GPU platforms, with support for up to 256 cores and 512 threads per socket, 16-channel DDR5-8000 memory, PCIe 6.0 with up to 96 lanes, and up to 600 watts per socket with air or liquid cooling.
Supermicro also raised its fiscal 2027 revenue target to as much as $82 billion because of increasing demand for AI data center equipment. In the quarter ended September 30, the company reported $19.9 billion in revenue, above the $16.3 billion analysts expected, but its gross profit margin fell from 17.5% to 12.7% as more sales came from large AI data center projects.
Analyst views remain divided. Susquehanna raised its price target from $15 to $18 but kept a Negative rating, Rosenblatt maintained a Buy rating and $57 target, and BofA Securities kept an Underperform rating and $39 target. The average analyst rating is Hold with a price target of about $36.64. The stock was still down about 24% over the past year, trading near $29 compared with a June high of $51.40.
Supermicro has previously faced scrutiny over alleged diversion of products to China. In March, federal prosecutors charged co-founder Yih Shyan “Wally” Liaw and two others over an alleged conspiracy to divert Nvidia-powered servers to Chinese customers through a Southeast Asian company. Liaw pleaded not guilty. In August, the company said an independent investigation found no evidence that current senior management knew about the alleged diversion scheme.
