An anonymous tip-off about computer servers potentially containing Nvidia chips being exported to Malaysia sparked a police investigation by Singapore authorities. Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam revealed this during a media briefing on 3 March at the Treasury.
The alert was not from any country or sovereign entity but was serious enough to prompt an independent investigation by Singapore.
Preliminary findings show servers from US firms Dell and Supermicro were sent to Singapore-based companies before being exported to Malaysia.
The case comes amid US scrutiny of potential circumvention of export controls for advanced Nvidia chips. This follows Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek’s launch of a free AI tool in January that reportedly caused a significant drop in US tech stock values.
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US lawmakers had singled out Singapore in a January letter urging National Security Adviser Mike Waltz to subject countries to strict licensing requirements if they failed to crack down on shipments to China.
Nvidia’s latest financial results showed 22 percent of its third-quarter billings were to Singapore, making the Republic the biggest buyer of its chips after the US.
Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng told Parliament on 18 February that products physically delivered to Singapore represent less than 1 percent of Nvidia’s overall revenue.
Singapore Police Investigation Uncovers Potential Export Control Violations
Mr Shanmugam stated the servers likely contained items subject to export controls by the US. Authorities are investigating whether Malaysia was the final destination or if the servers were moved elsewhere.
“The question is whether Malaysia was a final destination or, from Malaysia, it went to somewhere else, which we do not know for certain at this point,” Mr Shanmugam said.
He added, “We assess that there may have been false representation on the final destination of the servers.”
If false statements were made within Singapore about the servers’ final destination, this would constitute an offense under Singapore laws.
The investigation led to three men being charged with fraud on 27 February. Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, along with Chinese national Li Ming, 51, allegedly committed the offenses between 2023 and 2024.
Li allegedly lied to an unnamed supplier in 2023, claiming procured servers would go to a company called Luxuriate Your Life.
Wei and Woon were charged with conspiring to commit fraud against another unnamed supplier by misrepresenting where the procured servers would end up.
The men face jail terms of up to 20 years, a fine, or both. They will return to the State Courts on 7 March.
Singapore authorities conducted raids at 22 locations in connection with the case.
International Cooperation and Singapore’s Export Control Stance
Singapore has contacted Malaysia and the US for additional information to assist with investigations.
Since the supply companies are US-linked, Singapore requires information from American authorities. Similarly, details on server movement within or beyond Malaysia fall under Malaysian jurisdiction.
“If the servers did contain US export-controlled items, we have told the US that we would be happy to work with them and support any investigations in the US on that,” Mr Shanmugam said.
He noted Singapore is likely not the only transit point for such shipments, stating: “As you can see from this case, the servers went from Singapore to a country other than China.”
Mr Shanmugam emphasized that Singapore welcomes businesses but will not tolerate violations of local laws.
“We welcome good companies to operate from here, to be part of our business environment, and to contribute to our growth. But we will not tolerate individuals and companies violating our laws, or taking advantage of their association with Singapore to circumvent export controls of other countries,” he said.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan previously stated that Singapore is not legally obliged to enforce unilateral export measures of other countries but will enforce multilaterally agreed-upon export control regimes.
Mr Shanmugam added that countries in the trade and supply chain must work together to properly enforce their domestic laws within their jurisdictions.
“As you can see, the issue is not with the law. We have the laws. It’s with enforcement, and we are enforcing,” he said. “But where you have an international chain of events, it will not be possible for any one country to deal with this by itself.”
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