One month after US officials launched an investigation into whether Chinese AI startup DeepSeek acquired Nvidia AI chips through shell companies in Singapore to bypass US trade restrictions, a new report suggests that Singapore has opened a probe into intermediaries allegedly funneling AI semiconductors into Malaysia.
Bloomberg reports that Singaporean officials are investigating middlemen who shipped Dell and Super Micro servers with AI chips from Singapore to Malaysia and potentially misrepresented the end users of the hardware, raising fresh concerns that these chips may have ultimately reached China.
Law Minister K Shanmugam told reporters earlier that several people have been arrested for procuring and shipping Nvidia chips to Malaysia, violating US chip restrictions.
"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," Shanmugam said.
A little more than a month ago, we asked: Did DeepSeek Use Shell Companies In Singapore To Procure Nvidia Blacklisted Chips?
Did DeepSeek Use Shell Companies In Singapore To Procure Nvidia Blacklisted Chips? https://t.co/ZEfsRRTXV1
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 31, 2025
