SMCX ETF Plummets 55% As Super Micro Legal Troubles And Export Violations Weigh On Investor Sentiment

• The indictment targets Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun.
• Liaw helped establish Super Micro in 1993 and became a board member in 2023.
• In 2024, Hindenburg Research accused Super Micro of accounting fraud, insider self-dealing, and violating sanctions.

The Defiance Daily Target 2X Long SMCI ETF (SMCX), which tracks twice the daily price movement of Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI), plummeted 55% on Friday after smuggling charges were brought against Super Micro Computer employees. 

The ETF has over $151 million in assets under management (AUM). At the time of writing, retail sentiment around the ETF was in ‘neutral’ territory. 

U.S. Authorities Unseal Indictment Over AI Server Export Scheme To China

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced the unsealing of an indictment charging three individuals with illegally diverting high-performance servers and U.S. artificial intelligence technology to China, in violation of export control laws.

The indictment by the Justice Department targets Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun. Liaw, a U.S. citizen, and Sun, a Taiwanese national, were arrested in California, while Chang, also from Taiwan, remains at large. 

Liaw helped establish Super Micro in 1993 and became a board member in 2023. Chang worked as a sales manager at Super Micro’s Taiwan branch, and Sun worked as an external contractor.

Super Micro stock traded 28% lower on Friday morning. Retail sentiment around the stock changed to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’ territory amid ‘normal’ message volume levels. 

The Trump administration now requires Commerce Department approval for all U.S. semiconductor exports to China and Macau, including chips from Nvidia and AMD.

Super Micro’s Record Of Financial Problems 

Hindenburg Research, a prominent investigative research firm, published a report in 2024 accusing Super Micro of “accounting manipulation, sibling self-dealing, and sanctions evasion.”

Super Micro is no stranger to regulatory and financial scrutiny. In August 2018, the company was delisted from Nasdaq after failing to file financial statements for two consecutive years.

The company offers servers, AI systems, storage, IoT devices, networking equipment, software, and support services to customers across cloud data centers and edge computing

SMCI stock has gained over 5% yesr-to-date. 

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