Three men suspected of scamming suppliers of server computers potentially containing Nvidia Corp. chips subject to US export restrictions are out of prison temporarily after a Singapore judge granted them bail.
Two men from Singapore were given bail of $600,000 each, and the third man, who was from China, was given bail of $1 million.
According to reports, the prosecution asked for an eight-week delay to finish their investigations and specific terms, such as keeping the men away from airports and border checkpoints and not letting them talk about the case if they are fully released on bail. Reports say that the Chinese man has to wear an electronic tracking device. The next court date is May 2.
Nvidia smugglers case – Details
The three suspects are Singaporeans Aaron Woon, 41, and Alan Wei, 49, and Chinese national Li Ming, 51. Singaporean prosecutors first charged the three guys at the end of February.
Prosecutors said the fraud case involved servers that were rented from Singaporean businesses and then moved to Malaysia. The prosecutor said that the Singaporeans’ case is worth about $250 million, and the Chinese man’s case is worth about $140 million.
In March, the city state’s Law Minister, K Shanmugam, said that the servers were made by Dell Technologies Inc. and Super Micro Computer Inc. Shanmugam added that they might have Nvidia chips that are restricted from leaving the US.
Malaysia said it would take necessary action against Malaysian companies if they are found to be involved in a fraud case involving the alleged shipping of Nvidia chips from Singapore to China. Of course, Malaysia doesn’t want to taint its relationship with the US amidst Trump’s tariff threats.
Prosecutors have said they think Wei gave himself tens of millions of dollars in profits and Woon got a million-dollar bonus. When asked about the charges, Wei’s lawyer, Shashi Nathan, said he wants to see proof from the officials of how much money Wei is said to have stolen from businesses. Li’s lawyer wouldn’t say anything, and Woon’s lawyer didn’t answer right away when asked to speak.
The case is part of a larger police investigation in Singapore into 22 people and businesses that are thought to have lied to the police. Six more people were caught. Prosecutors also said that cops are looking into whether other suppliers are involved in cases like this one.
Meanwhile, Shanmugam says that the authorities are trying to figure out where the goods are going after they have been shipped from Singapore to Malaysia.
The main question in the case is whether the three people lied to server providers about who would actually be using the hardware. Some countries, like China, have trade limits on advanced US chip technology. This shows how this technology gets around the world through Southeast Asia and could end up in China.
DeepSeek could be a suspect in the case
Nvidia’s most recent annual report says that Singapore brought in 18% of the company’s revenue in the fiscal year that finished on January 28. However, shipments to Singapore only made up 2% of sales.
In January, China’s DeepSeek got a lot of attention in the AI world for its cutting-edge technology and low-cost solutions. This made people more worried about where and how it gets its chips. Even though Nvidia is trying to stop exports and stop the technology from being used in China, DeepSeek’s AI is driven by its chips.
The US is investigating whether DeepSeek has been using US chips illegally. In January, DeepSeek’s AI model shocked the tech world with its efficiency.
Singaporean officials said that the computers might have had Nvidia chips inside, but they didn’t say if the chips were the high-end semiconductors that are controlled by the US.
Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said last week that he didn’t want to guess about the possible link to DeepSeek when asked.
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