Singapore charged a fifth person in a fraud case involving servers linked to Nvidia chips on November 12. Shi Bingzhe faced 41 charges, including acquiring benefits from criminal conduct. This investigation follows concerns about how restricted chips reached other countries. Four others and several companies also face similar legal action.
Singapore has charged a fifth person in an investigation into alleged fraud involving computer servers that may have contained Nvidia chips and were linked to shipments to Malaysia, The Straits Times reported on November 13. Shi Bingzhe, 34, faced 41 charges on November 12, including one for acquiring benefits from criminal conduct, the newspaper reported. The report did not provide a breakdown of all the charges or specify Shi's alleged role in the transactions. The case centres on whether buyers misrepresented the intended users of servers sourced from technology suppliers, against a backdrop of US restrictions on exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.
Four others charged in server fraud case Four other people have been charged. They are Aaron Woon Guo Jie, Alan Wei Zhaolun, Chinese national Li Ming and Jenny Lim. According to The Straits Times, Wei, Woon and Lim face fraud and money-laundering charges, while Li faces fraud and fraudulent-trading charges. Singapore police said the initial charges against three men were filed on February 27, 2025. Lim was charged in April 2026. Four companies were subsequently charged in July: Aperia International, A-Speed Infotech and Aperia Cloud Services (II), collectively known as the Aperia Group, and Luxuriate Your Life.
Police alleged in July that Aperia executives had falsely represented one of their companies as the end user of servers purchased from Dell, Super Micro Computer and Asus between November 2023 and February 2025. Wei headed Aperia, Lim was its chief financial officer and Woon led sales. Li was identified as the controller of Luxuriate Your Life. In connection with the investigation, police imposed restrictions on the disposal of a bungalow valued at about S$55 million and seized approximately S$1 million from bank accounts under investigation, according to a July police statement. Why Singapore's Nvidia chip trade is under scrutiny The case follows questions raised in the United States about whether Chinese AI developer DeepSeek obtained restricted Nvidia chips through intermediaries in other countries, including Singapore.
Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said in February 2025 that Nvidia had no reason to believe DeepSeek had received export-controlled products from Singapore. The volume of Nvidia business billed through Singapore also drew attention. In Parliament on February 18, 2025, then-Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said Singapore accounted for 22 percent of Nvidia's third-quarter 2024 revenue, but less than 1 percent of its overall revenue involved products physically shipped to the country. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs reiterated on November 12 that it does not enforce unilateral export controls imposed by other countries, but takes action against fraud and breaches of Singapore law.
The allegations against the five individuals remain subject to court proceedings. The charges do not establish that restricted Nvidia chips reached China.