News: 0175139859

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

US Justice Department Probes Super Micro Computer (yahoo.com)

(Thursday September 26, 2024 @11:30PM (BeauHD) from the under-investigation dept.)


According to the [1]Wall Street Journal , the U.S. Department of Justice is [2]investigating Super Micro Computer after short-seller Hindenburg Research [3]alleged "accounting manipulation" at the AI server maker. Super Micro's shares fell about 12% following the report. Reuters reports:

> The WSJ report, which cited people familiar with the matter, said the probe was at an early stage and that a prosecutor at a U.S. attorney's office recently contacted people who may be holding relevant information. The prosecutor has asked for information that appeared to be connected to a former employee who accused the company of accounting violations, the report added.

>

> Super Micro had late last month delayed filing its annual report, citing a need to assess "its internal controls over financial reporting," a day after Hindenburg disclosed a short position and made claims of "accounting manipulation." The short-seller had cited a three-month investigation that included interviews with former senior employees of Super Micro and litigation records. Hindenburg's allegations included evidence of undisclosed related-party transactions, failure to abide by export controls, among other issues. The company had denied Hindenburg's claims.



[1] https://www.wsj.com/tech/justice-department-probes-server-maker-super-micro-computer-2ca6a4d3

[2] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-justice-department-probes-super-150035464.html

[3] https://hindenburgresearch.com/smci/



Nothing to see here... (Score:2)

by sarren1901 ( 5415506 )

They were just using the AI to do their accounting.

AI is just doing the best job it can do! Cut it some slack here.

Re: (Score:2)

by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 )

AI can't (yet) do accounting, but quants actually do use AI to detect accounting irregularities that may indicate suspicious behavior.

Re: (Score:2)

by sarren1901 ( 5415506 )

AI is good at pattern recognition so that makes sense it could be used to finding irregularities in accounting or taxes in general. From all accounts heard tell, AI doesn't do logic or much math. AI doesn't understand things. It can spot patterns though. So when you train it on a good data set to spot accounting irregularities or even cancer screenings, it makes sense it could spot more of these then a human.

I figure we'll get there one day but it won't matter without major changes to resource distribution

Re: (Score:2)

by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 )

all our math is checked by an intel pentium cpu

Re: (Score:1)

by guruevi ( 827432 )

AI definitely can do accounting, probably better than humans. All you're doing is importing data into databases that make simple calculations, finance jobs should be completely automatable.

Re: (Score:2)

by penguinoid ( 724646 )

Ah but it can't do the important accounting tasks like Hollywood accounting or doing the Irish trick.

Super Micro Computer (Score:2)

by Tablizer ( 95088 )

That's such an 1980s-sounding name. Brings back memories of getting dumped because I had no people skills.

Oh wait, that was Tuesday.

Hindenburg Research lol (Score:2)

by presidenteloco ( 659168 )

A bunch of Gordon Gecko-like market manipulators who trump up a sensational warped or exaggerated negative story after buying a huge short position in the company.

PHB-to-English Translator (Score:1)

by Tablizer ( 95088 )

> Super Micro...delayed filing its annual report, citing a need to "assess its internal controls over financial reporting"...

Translation: "We gotta shred lotta shit quickly!'

"the AI server maker" (Score:2)

by peterww ( 6558522 )

It's not an AI server maker, it's a server maker. They also sell servers with GPUs.

OEM (Score:2)

by JBMcB ( 73720 )

SuperMicro does a *lot* of stuff. They OEM parts for other companies. They make beige box servers for other companies to build turnkey systems. And, of course, plain old servers.

Time to buy some shares and break out the popcorn (Score:1)

by Sattwic ( 545957 )

Heidelberg is now just another mudslinger trying to profit by a model that is increasingly flawed.

When was the last time Heidelberg was actually true is getting to be a distant memory, receding fast.

Super Micro Computer stocks are getting cheap for those who wish to make a profit.

A failure will not appear until a unit has passed final inspection.