Two Chinese nationals—one of whom was in the U.S. unlawfully—have been arrested on federal charges for allegedly exporting tens of millions of dollars’ worth of sensitive microchips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday in a press release.

Chuan Geng, 28, of Pasadena, and Shiwei Yang, 28, of El Monte, are accused of violating the Export Control Reform Act, a felony offense that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. On Saturday, Geng voluntarily surrendered to federal authorities, and on the same day, Yang was arrested.

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, the defendants allegedly used their company, ALX Solutions Inc., to knowingly export sensitive U.S. technology to China, including graphic processing units (GPUs)—critical components in modern computing—without obtaining the necessary license or authorization from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The complaint points out that ALX Solutions was established shortly after the Commerce Department implemented licensing requirements for the advanced microchips Yang and Geng are accused of illegally exporting.

A review of export data, corporate records, and online company information revealed that a December 2024 shipment—and at least 20 prior shipments—were routed from the U.S. to freight-forwarding companies in Singapore and Malaysia, the DOJ stated in its press release.

Both countries are known transshipment hubs often used to obscure unauthorized exports to China.

Although ALX Solutions claimed to ship goods to specific recipients, the company did not receive any payments from those entities. Instead, it received multiple payments from firms based in China and Hong Kong, including a $1 million payment from a China-based company in January 2024.

In one instance highlighted by prosecutors, ALX Solutions submitted export documents in December 2024 falsely claiming a shipment of GPUs—classified as requiring a license for export to China. According to the DOJ, neither the defendants nor their company applied for or secured the necessary authorization from the Commerce Dept., the release noted further.

According to the complaint and publicly available information, the chip in question is the “most powerful GPU chip on the market,” and is “designed specifically for AI applications,” such as “to develop self-driving cars, medical diagnosis systems, and other AI-powered applications.”

The manufacturer was not named, with the department describing them only as “a manufacturer of high-performance AI chips.”

Last week, federal agents conducted a search of ALX Solutions’ office in El Monte and seized phones belonging to Geng and Yang that revealed incriminating communications between the defendants.

The two Chinese nationals allegedly discussed ways to skirt U.S. export controls on China by first rerouting the packages through Malaysia in an effort to evade detection, the DOJ noted.

Meanwhile, earlier this week Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered a grand jury to look into allegations of a criminal conspiracy surrounding the ‘Russiagate’ investigation into then-2016 GOP nominee and then President Donald Trump’s campaign and administration.

The order comes after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe made criminal referrals to the Justice Department following the declassification of documents that appear to implicate intelligence community officials in then-President Barack Obama’s administration conspiring to push a fabricated ‘Trump-Russia collusion’ narrative hatched by 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Fox News was the first to report on Bondi’s move.

“Fox News can confirm that Attorney General Pam Bondi today signed an order directing an unnamed U.S. federal prosecutor to take evidence to a grand jury relating to an alleged conspiracy to tie then 2016 candidate Donald Trump to the country of Russia,” network correspondent David Spunt told host Will Cain on Monday.

“Now, Fox News reviewed the one-page order just hours ago, signed by the Attorney General. A source familiar with the probe confirms this as well. While a DoJ spokesperson declined to comment on this report of an investigation, Fox is told Attorney General Bondi is taking the referrals from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard ‘very seriously,’” Spunt said.