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.
