Three men linked to Nvidia server exports to Malaysia out on bail
KUALA LUMPUR: Three men allegedly linked to computer servers exported to Malaysia that might contain Nvidia chips have been released on bail, with at least one of them potentially facing additional charges.
Chinese national Li Ming, 51, is now out on bail of S$1 million (about RM3.29 million), The Straits Times reported.
Singaporeans Alan Wei Zhaolun, 48, and Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 40, were released on bail of S$800,000 (about RM2.6 million) and S$600,000 (RM1.97 million), respectively.
Nvidia is a leading artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer based in the US. On May 2, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Phoebe Tan requested a 12-week adjournment for the trio, as investigations were ongoing.
However, Li's lawyer requested a pre-trial conference adjournment instead.
When District Judge Ng Cheng Thiam asked why the adjournment was needed, DPP Tan said the case was complex and that Li could face more charges.
Lawyers for the two Singaporeans did not object to the prosecutor's request.
The judge granted an eight-week adjournment for all three.
The next mention has been set for June 27.
Li faces one fraud charge and another under the Computer Misuse Act.
Woon and Wei face two fraud charges each.
Li is accused of defrauding Supermicro, a server supplier, by claiming in 2023 that the end user of the servers would be a company he controlled, Luxuriate Your Life.
He is also alleged to have accessed an OCBC corporate bank account without authorisation to make and receive transfers on behalf of Luxuriate Your Life on June 19, 2024.
Woon and Wei are accused of conspiring to defraud two server suppliers Dell and Supermicro by falsely claiming in 2024 that the servers would not be transferred to anyone other than the authorised end users.
The pair worked at Aperia Cloud Services, a Singapore-based technology company.
Wei was the company's chief executive, while Woon served as its chief operating officer.
Preliminary investigations showed that servers from US firms Dell and Supermicro - possibly embedded with Nvidia AI chips - were sent to Singapore-based companies before being exported to Malaysia.
The probe was triggered by an anonymous tip-off.
In 2022, the US government imposed a series of export controls restricting the sale of high-performance AI chips to China.
Questions arose in the US in 2025 when a Chinese start-up launched DeepSeek, an AI platform allegedly using Nvidia chips.
The launch of DeepSeek in January reportedly wiped around US$1 trillion off the value of US tech stocks.
US authorities are now investigating whether its export controls on advanced Nvidia chips were circumvented.
Nvidia said in a statement there was no reason to believe DeepSeek had obtained any export-controlled products from Singapore.
Singapore authorities were investigating whether Malaysia was the final destination for the servers or if they were re-exported elsewhere.
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