Latest news with #AlanWeiZhaolun
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Singapore case against three on AI chip fraud charges adjourned until August 22
Singapore 's case against three men linked by local media to the illegal transfer of Nvidia 's AI chips from Singapore to Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek has been adjourned until Aug 22, the court ruled on Friday. At a hearing on Friday, the prosecution said the police would need more time to review new documents and seek responses from overseas parties in the investigations into the three men, Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, as well as the Chinese national Li Ming, 51. They were earlier charged with committing fraud by making false representations to unnamed server suppliers about the end users of goods purchased in 2023 and 2024. The United States banned the export of high-end chips from Nvidia to China in 2022 amid concerns that they could be used for military purposes. A senior US official said that AI firm DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations, Reuters reported on Monday. Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said in March that the authorities had ascertained that servers involved in the fraud case may contain Nvidia chips, and that they had investigated the case independently after an anonymous tip-off. The servers were supplied by Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer to Singapore-based companies before they were sent on to Malaysia, although it was not clear if Malaysia was the final destination for the servers, he said. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation into 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that nations like Singapore have been involved in organised AI chip smuggling to China. In 2024, Singapore was Nvidia's second-biggest market after the United States, accounting for 18% of its total revenue in its latest fiscal year, a February filing by the chipmaker shows. Actual shipments to the Asian trading hub, however, contributed less than 2% of total revenue, as customers use it as a centre for invoicing sales to other countries.
Economic Times
9 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
Singapore case against three on AI chip fraud charges adjourned until August 22
Singapore's case against three men linked by local media to the illegal transfer of Nvidia's AI chips from Singapore to Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek has been adjourned until Aug 22, the court ruled on Friday. At a hearing on Friday, the prosecution said the police would need more time to review new documents and seek responses from overseas parties in the investigations into the three men, Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, as well as the Chinese national Li Ming, 51. They were earlier charged with committing fraud by making false representations to unnamed server suppliers about the end users of goods purchased in 2023 and 2024. The United States banned the export of high-end chips from Nvidia to China in 2022 amid concerns that they could be used for military purposes. A senior US official said that AI firm DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations, Reuters reported on Monday. Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said in March that the authorities had ascertained that servers involved in the fraud case may contain Nvidia chips, and that they had investigated the case independently after an anonymous tip-off. The servers were supplied by Dell Technologies and Super Micro Computer to Singapore-based companies before they were sent on to Malaysia, although it was not clear if Malaysia was the final destination for the servers, he said. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation into 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that nations like Singapore have been involved in organised AI chip smuggling to China. In 2024, Singapore was Nvidia's second-biggest market after the United States, accounting for 18% of its total revenue in its latest fiscal year, a February filing by the chipmaker shows. Actual shipments to the Asian trading hub, however, contributed less than 2% of total revenue, as customers use it as a centre for invoicing sales to other countries. (Reporting by Jun Yuan Yong; Editing by David Stanway)
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Police bust ring smuggling Nvidia GPUs to China-based DeepSeek: Report
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Singapore Police Force have charged three men with fraud in a case involving allegedly illegal re-export of Nvidia GPUs to Chinese AI company DeepSeek, bypassing U.S. trade restrictions, reports ChannelNewsAsia. The police and customs authorities raided 22 locations, arrested nine individuals, and seized documents and electronic records, reports Reuters. When Singapore suddenly became Nvidia's second largest geographical source of revenue in 2024, many suspected that this happened because Nvidia's GPUs were illegally re-exported from Singapore to China. Nvidia denied all accusations saying that billing locations do not represent actual destination of GPUs. Still, the U.S. Commerce Department started investigation whether DeepSeek has acquired restricted American GPUs to train its AI models. "Customers use Singapore to centralize invoicing while our products are almost always shipped elsewhere," a statement by Nvidia reads. "Shipments to Singapore were less than 2% of fiscal year 2025 total revenue." However, it looks like the problem with smuggling high-performance Nvidia GPUs from Singapore to China exists and intermediaries in Singapore helped smuggle Nvidia GPUs for AI and HPC to China in violation of U.S. export laws. The accused include Singaporeans Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49. Prosecutors allege that in 2024, they conspired to deceive a server supplier by falsely claiming the equipment would not be resold to unauthorized parties. A third suspect, Li Ming, 51, a Chinese national, faces separate charges related to a similar scheme in 2023. Authorities claim he misrepresented the intended recipient of hardware, stating it was meant for a Singapore-based company, Luxuriate Your Life. If convicted, the suspects could face up to 20 years in prison, fines, or both. Authorities have not disclosed details about other arrested individuals or whether additional charges will be filed. While the arrests clearly indicate the involvement of Singapore-based groups in smuggling restricted high-performance Nvidia GPUs to China, the extent of their operations are yet to be determined. Companies like DeepSeek need tens of thousands of Nvidia Hopper GPUs (H100, H20, H800) to train its large-language models. However, smaller research institutions run smaller clusters containing tens or hundreds of such processors. Last week Singapore's government emphasized that while it is not legally bound to enforce unilateral export restrictions imposed by other nations, it expects businesses operating within its borders to comply with such regulations where applicable. Authorities have reiterated that the country does not tolerate attempts to exploit its trade networks to circumvent international controls.
Al Arabiya
28-02-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Singapore charges three with fraud that media link to Nvidia chips
Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case domestic media have linked to the movement of Nvidia's advanced chips from the city state to Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek. The United States is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model's performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using US chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation of 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that organized AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of nations such as Singapore. Broadcaster Channel News Asia said it understood the cases were linked to the alleged movement of Nvidia chips from Singapore to be used by DeepSeek, without identifying its source. Singapore's government did not immediately respond to email queries whether the charges were linked to Nvidia and DeepSeek. Charge-sheets accused two Singaporeans, identified as Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, with criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on a supplier of servers in 2024. They did this 'by fraudulently making a false representation that the items would not be transferred to a person other than the authorized ultimate consignee of end users', the court papers added. The third person charged is Chinese national Li Ming, 51, accused of committing fraud on a supplier of servers in 2023 by claiming a Singapore-registered company Luxuriate Your Life Pte Ltd would be the end user of the items. DeepSeek, Nvidia and Luxuriate Your Life did not immediately reply to requests for comment. If found guilty of the offences, the men could face penalties of a jail term of up to 20 years or a fine or both. The police and charge documents did not elaborate on the items involved in the case, or identify the supplier of servers. On Thursday, police said in a statement they had arrested nine people in a joint operation with customs authorities on Wednesday, raiding 22 locations from which they seized documentary and electronic records. Singapore is Nividia's second-biggest market after the United States, accounting for 18 percent of its total revenue in its latest fiscal year, a recent filing by the chipmaker shows. Actual shipments to the Asian trading hub, however, contributed less than 2 percent of total revenue, as customers use it as a center for invoicing sales to other countries. Last week, Singapore's foreign minister vowed to enforce multilateral export control regimes, saying the city state would not tolerate evasion, deception, false declarations or miscounting.
Reuters
28-02-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Singapore charges three with fraud that media link to Nvidia chips
SINGAPORE/BEIJING, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Singapore charged three men with fraud in a case domestic media have linked to the movement of Nvidia's (NVDA.O), opens new tab advanced chips from the city state to Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek. The United States is investigating if DeepSeek, the Chinese company whose AI model's performance rocked the tech world in January, has been using U.S. chips that are not allowed to be shipped to China, Reuters reported earlier. The Singapore case is part of a broader police investigation of 22 individuals and companies suspected of false representation, amid concerns that organised AI chip smuggling to China has been tracked out of nations such as Singapore. Broadcaster Channel News Asia said it understood the cases were linked to the alleged movement of Nvidia chips from Singapore to be used by DeepSeek, without identifying its source. Singapore's government did not immediately respond to email queries whether the charges were linked to Nvidia and DeepSeek. Charge-sheets accused two Singaporeans, identified as Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41, and Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49, with criminal conspiracy to commit fraud on a supplier of servers in 2024. They did this "by fraudulently making a false representation that the items would not be transferred to a person other than the authorised ultimate consignee of end users", the court papers added. The third person charged is Chinese national Li Ming, 51, accused of committing fraud on a supplier of servers in 2023 by claiming a Singapore-registered company Luxuriate Your Life Pte Ltd would be the end user of the items. DeepSeek, Nvidia and Luxuriate Your Life did not immediately reply to requests for comment. If found guilty of the offences, the men could face penalties of a jail term of up to 20 years or a fine or both. The police and charge documents did not elaborate on the items involved in the case, or identify the supplier of servers. On Thursday, police said in a statement they had arrested nine people in a joint operation with customs authorities on Wednesday, raiding 22 locations from which they seized documentary and electronic records. Singapore is Nividia's second-biggest market after the United States, accounting for 18% of its total revenue in its latest fiscal year, a recent filing by the chipmaker shows. Actual shipments to the Asian trading hub, however, contributed less than 2% of total revenue, as customers use it as a centre for invoicing sales to other countries. Last week, Singapore's foreign minister vowed to enforce multilateral export control regimes, saying the city state would not tolerate evasion, deception, false declarations or miscounting.
