Super Micro, which shipped $14.9 billion of servers and data centre hardware to customers last year, confirmed that it won’t file its annual report until a new board committee reviews financial controls – after it was accused of extensive sanctions evasion and accounting manipulation.
Super Micro can not submit its 10-K form (an annual report required by market watchdogs) in “a timely manner without unreasonable effort or expense” it said in a short SEC filing published on Friday, August 30.
The move comes after short-seller Hindenburg Research alleged that customers were moving away from Super Micro owing to firmware issues, poor aftercare and concerns. It claimed on August 27 that AWS and Digital Ocean had both subsequently stopped buying servers from the company.
The Stack could not immediately independently verify these allegations.
Super Micro allegations by Hindenburg...
Hindenburg further alleged that Super Micro’s high-tech exports to Russia have tripled since the invasion of Ukraine; basing that claim on what it said was its review of 45,000 import/export transactions and adding that Super Micro is using Turkish and Hong Kong-based shell companies to evade sanctions: “Almost two-thirds of Super Micro’s exports to Russia since the invasion correspond to ‘high priority’ components that the Russian military may be diverting to the battlefield” Hindenburg alleged.
Super Micro has not separately responded to these allegations, which sent its share price tumbling. “Additional time is needed for SMCI’s management to complete its assessment of the design and operating effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting as of June 30, 2024. SMCI has not made updates to its results for the fiscal year and quarter ended June 30, 2024 that were announced in SMCI’s press release dated August 6, 2024” it said on August 28, adding on August 30 the Company does not anticipate 10-K “will contain any material changes to its results for the fiscal year and quarter ended June 30, 2024 that were announced in the Company’s press release dated August 6, 2024.”
August 6 it had said that it had made over $5 billion in server and storage system sales over its fiscal Q4 – up 148% year-on-year – and emphasised its capabilities in rack-scale delivery and innovations around liquid cooling.The company says it produces over 5,000 racks of data centre kit monthly.
