HUNTSVILLE — A Huntsville business owner is among four people, including two Chinese nationals, charged with conspiracy to illegally export cutting-edge NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units, which have artificial intelligence (AI) applications, to China, announced Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg for the Justice Department’s National Security Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida.
According to the indictment, the military in the People’s Republic of China sought the chips for “weapons design and testing, including for weapons of mass destruction as well as in connection with the PRC’s development and deployment of advanced AI surveillance tools.” It added that China is developing supercomputing capabilities and intends to become “the world leader in AI by 2030.”
Brian Curtis Raymond, 46, was arrested Wednesday and appeared in U.S. District Court in Huntsville. He is the founder of the Huntsville AI infrastructure company Bitworks, according to his LinkedIn bio.
He is charged with conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, two counts of ECRA violations, one count of smuggling, conspiracy to commit money laundering and seven counts of money laundering…