Nvidia AI Chip Shipments to Malaysia Break New Record: Nearly $3 Billion Worth of GPUs in AprilLast month, I shared how—despite U.S. warnings to Malaysia and requests to monitor chip imports and smuggling—the country has been breaking records like never before. Nearly $2 billion worth of chips were imported into Malaysia in March alone, raising eyebrows across the industry. But that now seems like just a teaser compared to April’s numbers.
According to official data from the Taiwan government, Malaysia imported nearly $3 billion worth of GPUs in April alone, setting yet another record—beating March—and continuing a trend of triple-digit monthly increases since January 2025.
Let’s talk numbers:
* 2022: $817 million
* 2023: $1.276 billion
* 2024: $4.877 billion — a nearly 300% YoY increase
2025:
* January: $1.12 billion (!) — nearly 700% YoY increase
* February: $626.5 million* March: $1.96 billion (!) — an astonishing 3,400% increase from 2023
* April: $2.74 billion (!) — another 3,400% increase from 2023
Malaysia has now imported $6.45 billion worth of GPUs year-to-date (!)
Now let’s look at how massive this is compared to Nvidia’s expected revenue in Q1 — and why chip smuggling and AI-related policies or restrictions might be fiercely opposed by Nvidia and its lobbyists, even if it goes against U.S. interests.
Nvidia’s Q1 covers February to April. During this period, Malaysia alone imported $5.33 billion worth of GPUs. Nvidia’s estimated Q1 revenue is $43 billion — meaning that Malaysia accounts for around 13% (!!) of Nvidia’s total revenue in this quarter.
According to SEC rules, if more than 10% of the total revenue comes from one country, it’s considered significant and must be disclosed in the company’s 10-Q filing.
Will it be?
Don’t hold your breath.
As I reported back in February, Nvidia invented a new reporting method called "Geographic Revenue Based Upon Customer Billing Location." Under this method, they’re only required to report the billing location, not the shipping location. So, they don’t have to mention Malaysia — even if billions worth of GPUs are being shipped there.
Will the BIS take a second look at Malaysia?
Will the SEC start questioning Nvidia’s creative reporting methods?
I still have hope.
