Theft. Smuggling. Silence.

The AI war is already underway — and we’re losing it. 

They didn’t invent it.

They didn’t earn it.

But they’re getting it anyway — one stolen chip at a time.

While we’re distracted by TikTok trends and celebrity gossip, China is busy stealing the future.

And not just any future — our future.

A future built on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the most powerful and dangerous technology mankind has ever created.

In the span of just a few days, two seemingly unrelated stories made headlines:

1. In Taiwan, three engineers — all linked to chipmaking giant TSMC — were arrested for allegedly stealing confidential data on 2-nanometer process technology, the holy grail of next-gen semiconductors.

2. In California, two Chinese nationals were indicted for smuggling millions of dollars’ worth of Nvidia’s H100 AI chips to Beijing — using fake addresses and falsified invoices to bypass U.S. export controls.

Individually, these sound like isolated cases of trade secret theft and tech smuggling.

But together?

They reveal a coordinated, long-term strategy by the Chinese Communist Party to do an end-run around innovation and seize global control of artificial intelligence.

And we’re letting them.

The Silicon Heist That Should Terrify You

The TSMC case is chilling.

Three insiders allegedly accessed and exfiltrated restricted engineering documents on Taiwan’s cutting-edge 2nm chip technology.

This isn’t yesterday’s news — this is the future of computing.

We’re talking about technology that will soon power everything from military defense systems to neural networks that mimic the human brain.

The stolen information? It’s believed to be heading straight to China.

No surprise there. China has made no secret of its goal to be self-sufficient in semiconductors by 2030. The only problem? They’re years behind, shackled by U.S. sanctions, and incapable of manufacturing at the level TSMC operates.

So what do they do?

They steal.

They poach engineers.

They set up front companies and research labs.

They lure talent with massive salaries and patriotic appeals.

They run a long con — and we keep falling for it.

$28 Million in Nvidia Chips… to a Fake Address

Then came the case out of California.

Two Chinese nationals — Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang — were arrested for smuggling high-end Nvidia GPUs, including the highly coveted H100 chips, into China.

How?

They ran a company called ALX Solutions and pretended to ship the chips to clients in Singapore and Malaysia. But that was just a smokescreen. The real destination? Mainland China, where Nvidia’s chips are banned under current U.S. export rules.

The Department of Justice revealed that just one invoice in 2023 was worth $28 million — sent to a fake Singapore address. And this wasn’t a one-time stunt. This operation ran from October 2022 to July 2025 — almost three full years of illegal exports, deception, and national security betrayal.

And here’s the bigger question:

How many chips actually made it into the hands of the Chinese government?

How many training clusters?

How many black-market AI labs?

How many models already trained on Western chips that were never meant to leave our shores?

AGI: The Prize That Can’t Be Shared

Let’s be clear: this isn’t just about commerce. It’s not just about trade secrets or corporate sabotage.

It’s about who gets to control the intelligence that will control the world.

Artificial General Intelligence — the hypothetical AI that can match or exceed human intelligence across all domains — is no longer science fiction. It’s a rapidly approaching reality.

If the United States or its allies achieve AGI first, we face massive ethical, spiritual, and technological questions. But at least we have a Constitution. We have checks and balances. We have free speech. We have some moral compass.

But if China gets there first?

Then AGI becomes a tool of tyranny.

Imagine a sentient AI trained on surveillance data, censorship algorithms, and Communist Party ideology.
Imagine a system that can run both your economy and your social credit score — and can punish you at the speed of light.

We don’t need to imagine it. They’re already building it.

This Is a Silent War — and We’re Losing

TSMC’s trade secrets were likely sold or handed off to Chinese firms operating under state protection.

Nvidia’s H100 chips are now embedded in data centers across Beijing.

And we’re still debating pronouns.

This is the real front line of modern warfare — not with tanks or missiles, but with silicon and code. And China is playing to win.

They have the spies.

AUTHOR

Martin Mawyer

Martin Mawyer is the Founder of Christian Action Network, based in Lynchburg, VA

EDITORS NOTE: This Majority Report column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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