As the US and China look for any sort of leverage in a prolonged trade fight, Beijing sees an opportunity to win over the world by taking a stand against the Trump administration’s plans to track high-end chips.

Chuan Geng and Shiwei Yang are accused of exporting the chips from the US to China through Singapore and Malaysia.

Two Chinese nationals in California have been charged with smuggling $28 million worth of Nvidia AI chips to China, as the DOJ cracks down on violations of U.S. export controls amid rising black-market demand for restricted semiconductors.