Supermicro Appoints New CFO Amid Ongoing Legal and Compliance Scrutiny

Mark Long, 59, replaced Weigand as Supermicro's CFO on Wednesday, effective immediately, according to Supermicro. Supermicro had promised a new CFO in December 2024. Weigand will stay to assist with the CFO transition. A Supermicro spokesperson said further details about Weigand's role would be shared later.

Long will receive a $725,000 base salary, a $500,000 signing bonus and a guaranteed annual cash bonus of $500,000. Long will be eligible for additional cash bonuses and an annual equity grant based on company performance and individual achievement. Long received an initial equity grant worth about $4.1 million based on Thursday's stock price, plus options on 150,000 shares. CEO Charles Liang welcomed Long, thanked Weigand and said Long would have an immediate positive impact on the company's financial execution. Supermicro declined to make Long available for interviews.

Long previously served as CFO and chief strategy officer at Western Digital, a $130 billion data storage company. Long runs the investment and advisory firm Prime Impact Capital. Long also served as co-CEO and CFO of a special purpose acquisition company that Long co-founded, which raised $300 million before merging with Beijing-based auto insurance technology platform Cheche Technology in 2023. Long's executive and technology investment experience is likely intended to improve Supermicro's credibility with skeptical investors after two years of uncertainty.

The Department of Justice and FBI indicted and arrested Supermicro co-founder Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw in March 2026 over an alleged $2.5 billion hardware smuggling scheme. The case allegedly involved Supermicro hardware containing Nvidia's export-controlled chips being illegally routed to China. Liaw and two others associated with Supermicro allegedly used hairdryers to remove and replace labels to deceive officials. The alleged deception also included staging thousands of nonworking replicas of Supermicro servers because the actual servers had already been diverted to China. Liaw has pleaded not guilty. Supermicro is not named as a defendant and has said Supermicro is cooperating with law enforcement.

Liaw resigned from Supermicro's board after being arrested and charged. Liaw's arrest triggered a board-led internal investigation separate from the earlier investigation that prompted the CFO search. Supermicro said in August that the later investigation found no evidence that current members of senior management knew about the smuggling scheme.

Supermicro disclosed after Liaw's arrest that Supermicro received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York concerning Liaw's indictment and Supermicro's compliance program and internal controls. Supermicro also received subpoenas and inquiries from foreign authorities, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, which enforces trade compliance. Liaw's lawyer told the judge that documents Supermicro would provide to the government could be material to Liaw's defense. Liaw's trial was postponed from November 2026 to March 2027.

Court records show that Supermicro contractor Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, who was indicted with Liaw, pleaded guilty last week to four counts, including conspiracy to smuggle goods and violate export rules, and obstruction of justice. Sun's superseding information document shows that the new obstruction count concerned Sun deleting an encrypted messaging application from Sun's phone on March 19, 2026, the day of the arrests. Sun's sentencing is scheduled for September 2027, and Sun faces a maximum of 20 years for the obstruction and conspiracy charges. Sun must also forfeit any proceeds from the export offenses. Sun's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sun's court records do not specify whether Sun has a cooperation agreement with the government.

The earlier internal investigation prompted Supermicro to commit to replacing Weigand with a more experienced CFO. Auditor EY's abrupt resignation triggered that investigation, which examined export controls and the rehiring of employees who resigned in 2017 after an earlier accounting investigation. Supermicro disclosed in 2024 that Weigand, as CFO and chief compliance officer, was held responsible for process lapses, including a consulting arrangement with the former CFO that EY was not told about.

Liaw had previously left Supermicro during an internal audit committee investigation, just before a 2018 SEC probe charged Supermicro and Supermicro's then-CFO with improper revenue recognition practices. Supermicro settled the SEC charges and paid $17.5 million in 2020. Liaw returned as a consultant in May 2021, subsequently became a full-time employee and rejoined the board in December 2023. Fellow co-founders Charles Liang and Sara Liu are married and both serve on Supermicro's board. The board recently added Intel's former IT chief technology officer, Shesha Krishnapura. Board member Judy Lin retired.