https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sin...mugam-us-malaysia-export-restrictions-4972321
Singapore
Probe on Nvidia exports: Chips allegedly moved through Singapore were sent to Malaysia; final destination under investigation
Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said Singapore’s investigations were carried out independently and not requested by the US, which has placed export controls on advanced AI.
Fabian Koh
03 Mar 2025 03:42PM (Updated: 03
SINGAPORE: The chips that were said to have been
transported through Singapore were embedded in servers, with Malaysia listed as their last known destination, Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam said on Monday (Mar 3).
Speaking to reporters, Mr Shanmugam said that server suppliers Dell and Supermicro had provided these products to companies based in Singapore, from where they were shipping across the border.
Initial assessments suggested that the servers contained Nvidia’s artificial intelligence (AI) chips, which are subject to US export restrictions, he said.
“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.”
Singapore recently
charged three men with fraud in connection with the movement of these products.
Mr Shanmugam said the investigations were carried out independently by Singapore, and not requested by the US or any other country.
“There has been some speculation linking this case with the potential circumvention of US export controls for advanced Nvidia chips. Now this case is unrelated. It's an independent investigation conducted by Singapore,” he said.
WORKING WITH MALAYSIA, US
Mr Shanmugam urged Malaysian and US authorities to share relevant information so that Singapore could further investigate and, if necessary, prosecute those involved.
“We have no visibility beyond our borders, and therefore we have asked both the US and Malaysia for more information so as to assist in our investigations,” he said.
Because the supply companies are linked to the US, Singapore requires information and documents from American authorities. Similarly, since the servers were sent to Malaysia, details on their movement within or beyond Malaysia fall under its jurisdiction.
Mr Shanmugam said Singapore has reached out to both countries’ law enforcement agencies on the basis of their “long-standing good cooperation”.
“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,” he said.
He also said that Singapore is likely not the only transit point for such shipments. “As you can see from this case, the servers went from Singapore to a country other than China,” he said.
A US Commerce Department inquiry had tracked organised AI chip smuggling from other locations, including Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION
Mr Shanmugam said Singapore’s investigation, which culminated in an islandwide raid of 22 locations on Feb 26, was triggered by an anonymous tip-off, not a request by a foreign entity.
“There was an anonymous tip-off, and that wasn't from any sovereign entity, not the United States. The United States has not made any request in relation to this matter to us. This was an independent investigation commenced in Singapore based on the tip-off,” he said.
The investigation uncovered potential violations of Singapore’s domestic laws, prompting the authorities to act swiftly, said Mr Shanmugam.
Two Singaporeans – Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49 – were charged on Feb 27 with criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on a supplier of servers.
They allegedly made false representations last year that the items would not be transferred to anyone other than the "authorised ultimate consignee of end users", charge sheets stated.
The third, 51-year-old Chinese national Li Ming, was charged with committing fraud by false representation, after allegedly claiming in 2023 that the end user of the items would be a company called Luxuriate Your Life.
Mr Shanmugam said that companies operating in Singapore are expected to take into account other countries' unilateral export controls which apply to their international business activities and conduct their businesses transparently.
He added that countries in the trade and supply chain have to work together to ensure that everything is done properly, by enforcing 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.”
Singapore, he assured, has “very good laws” to deal with its domestic situation.
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