Singapore Investigate Fraud Related To Nvidia Chip, Allegedly Sent To China

Singapore's Minister of Home Affairs and Law, K Shanmugam (photo: x @kshanmugam)

JAKARTA The Singapore government revealed that the server used in the fraud case announced last week may contain Nvidia's advanced chips. Singapore's Minister of Home Affairs and Law, K Shanmugam, stated that the server was supplied by US companies before being sent to Malaysia.

Three men, including a Chinese national, have been indicted in this case. Local media linked the case to the alleged shipment of Nvidia's AI chip from Singapore to Chinese-made intelligence company DeepSek.

"We consider that the server may contain Nvidia chips," Shanmugam told reporters on Monday, March 3.

According to him, related servers were supplied by Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computers to Singapore-based companies before being sent to Malaysia. However, he stressed that there was no certainty whether Malaysia was the final destination of the shipment.

Cross-State Investigation

Shanmugam revealed that Singaporean authorities have asked US authorities for clarification on whether the server contains goods subject to US export control rules. He also confirmed that Singapore is ready to cooperate in a joint investigation with the US.

Previously, the US had launched an investigation to find out whether DeepSek used US-made chips that were prohibited from being exported to China. In January 2025, DeepSek's artificial intelligence model stole the attention of the world of technology after showing extraordinary performance.

A Reuters report last year revealed that Chinese universities and research institutions have acquired Nvidia's advanced AI chips embedded in Dell, Super Micro, and Taiwanese company Gigabyte Technology's server products.

AI Smuggling Route To China?

The case in Singapore is part of a police investigation into 22 individuals and companies suspected of falsifying information. There are concerns that organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked from various countries, including Singapore.

Singapore itself is the second largest market for Nvidia after the US, accounting for 18% of its total revenue in the latest fiscal year. However, direct delivery to Singapore only contributes less than 2% of total revenue, as customers in the country often use it as a center of invoices for sales to other countries.

Meanwhile, several figures in the Western AI industry, such as Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, claim that DeepSek has up to 50,000 high-end Nvidia chips that are prohibited from being exported to China. However, Wang has not provided concrete evidence of the allegations and has not responded to a request for clarification from Reuters.

DeepSek itself did not respond to Wang's accusations. The startup previously stated that they were using the Nvidia H800 chip which could still be legally purchased in 2023. They also revealed that their AI supercomputer uses the Nvidia A100 chip.

Until now, both Nvidia, DeepSek, Super Micro, and Dell have not commented on this case.