SINGAPORE — An anonymous tip-off about computer servers that might contain Nvidia chips being exported to Malaysia, and possibly to an unknown final destination, sparked off a police investigation.
This alert did not come from any country or sovereign entity, but the claim was serious enough to get the Singapore authorities to launch an independent investigation, said Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam at a media briefing on March 3 at the Treasury.
The servers arrived in Singapore from the US before being exported to Malaysia.
But whether they ended up in Malaysia, or another country, is being looked into, he said.
Three men were charged with fraud on Feb 27 in a case allegedly linked to chipmaker Nvidia.
Shanmugam said preliminary investigations show servers from US firms Dell and Supermicro were sent to Singapore-based companies. The servers were then exported to Malaysia.
He said these servers likely contained items subjected to export controls by the US.
Said Shanmugam: "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.
"But we assess that there may have been false representation on the final destination of the servers."
He said if there were false representations within Singapore about the servers' final destination, then an offence under Singapore laws has been committed.
He added Singapore has contacted Malaysia and the US for more information.
The Straits Times asked if the case was linked to the Nvidia case, that was addressed in Parliament on Feb 18.
Shanmugam said he could not reveal too much as investigations were ongoing.
But he said: "We assess that the servers may contain Nvidia chips. I think that's the highest I can put it at, at this point."
Shanmugam later said: "We will always be happy to work with any country that discloses information to us which suggests that our laws have been breached, and we will take firm and decisive action."
The US is looking into the potential circumvention of its export controls for advanced Nvidia chips, after China's artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek launched a free AI tool in January that wiped out around US$1 trillion (S$1.34 trillion) off the value of US tech stocks.
This comes despite the tight restrictions the US had imposed on semiconductor firms in their exports to China.
Lawmakers in the United States had singled out Singapore in a letter in January urging National Security Adviser Mike Waltz to subject countries to strict licensing requirements if they were not willing to crack down on shipments to China.
On Feb 27, three men were each handed one count for fraud.
Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, and Chinese national Li Ming, 51, had allegedly committed the acts between 2023 and 2024.
Shanmugam said Singapore will remain an open and inclusive business hub but local laws must be respected.
He said: "We welcome reputable businesses 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."
The men who were charged on Feb 27 face a jail term of up to 20 years, a fine, or both.
According to court documents, Chinese national Li had allegedly committed fraud in 2023 against an unnamed supplier of servers by lying that the procured servers would be going to a company called Luxuriate Your Life.
Business records in Singapore show the company was incorporated in January 2021.
An archived page of the company's website, which has since been taken down, indicates it dabbled in network equipment sales, internet data centres, network communications, and computing equipment.
Wei and Woon were charged with conspiring to commit fraud against another unnamed supplier of servers by lying about where the procured servers would end up.
Business records show Wei is listed as the director of several firms in Singapore, including Achieva Tech Allianz, Altrics Global Services, Aperia Cloud Services and its subsidiaries, A-Speed Infotech, and Aurica.
Woon is listed as the director of car dealership Ace Autohaus. He also owns the pet food shop Dane's Cosmo.
All three will return to the State Courts on March 7.
Nvidia's latest financial results showed that 22 per cent of its third-quarter billings were to Singapore, making it the biggest buyer of its chips after the US.
On Feb 18, Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng told Parliament that products sold by Nvidia to Singapore that were physically delivered here represent less than one per cent of the chipmaker's overall revenue.
Dr Tan added the remainder of Nvidia's revenue billed to business entities in Singapore did not involve physical shipments into the country.
He said Nvidia's products are mainly deployed here for major enterprises and the Government.
Dr Tan added: "If a company in Singapore is engaged in deceptive or dishonest practices to evade export controls that it is subject to, we will investigate, and we will take the appropriate action in accordance with Singapore laws.
"It is in our national interest to secure access to leading-edge technology and to maintain the integrity of our business environment."
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan added during the Parliament session that Singapore was not legally obliged to enforce the unilateral export measures of countries around the world.
"But we will enforce the multilateral agreed-upon export control regimes," he said.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
