Singapore Investigates Alleged Fraud in Nvidia Chip Sales

Singapore has launched an investigation into suspected fraud involving the resale of US-controlled Nvidia chips, following the arrest of three individuals and raids on 22 locations across the city-state.

The case raises concerns over potential breaches of US export controls as authorities examine whether high-performance semiconductors were illegally funneled to restricted destinations.

The three men charged—two Singaporeans and one Chinese national—are accused of fraud in connection with Dell and Supermicro servers imported from the US and resold to a company in Malaysia. Authorities are investigating whether Malaysia was the final destination or whether the servers were rerouted elsewhere.

“We assess that the servers may contain Nvidia chips,” Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said at a press briefing. “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 arrests followed an anonymous tip-off, leading to a large-scale raid across Singapore. Authorities seized documents and electronic records as part of the probe.

Two of the accused, Alan Wei Zhaolun (48) and Aaron Woon Guo Jie (40), are executives at Aperia Cloud Services, a company that markets itself as an Nvidia Cloud Partner in Southeast Asia. The third suspect, Li Miang (51), is accused of falsely listing the end user of the servers as a Singaporean company called Luxuriate Your Life, which sells computer equipment.

Neither Aperia nor Luxuriate Your Life has responded to requests for comment.

The case has drawn international attention, particularly from US authorities, who have tightened restrictions on the export of advanced semiconductors to China. The US has been investigating whether DeepSeek, a Chinese artificial intelligence company, has been using restricted Nvidia chips obtained through third-party channels.

Singapore has stated that it is working with both US and Malaysian authorities to determine whether the servers contained restricted components and whether export regulations were violated.

Singapore’s role in the global semiconductor supply chain has been under scrutiny, with US lawmakers expressing concerns about the potential diversion of restricted chips to China. Nvidia, which generated nearly a quarter of its sales through its Singapore office in late 2024, has clarified that most of these transactions are invoicing-related, with only a limited number of chips physically passing through the city-state.

Separately, the European Union recently imposed sanctions on a Singaporean chip distributor, Splendent Technologies, for allegedly supplying components to Russia’s defense sector. This marks the second Singaporean company sanctioned by the EU over its connections to Russia since the Ukraine conflict began.

If convicted, the three suspects face up to 20 years in prison under Singapore’s fraud laws. The case is set to continue in court on Friday, as investigations into the final destination of the Nvidia-powered servers remain ongoing.

The Financial Times and Reuters contributed to this report.