Kuala Lumpur: Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced that there are no findings or reports confirming the alleged transfer of Nvidia artificial intelligence (AI) chips in servers from Singapore to Malaysia. This statement was made during a question and answer session at the Dewan Negara, addressing claims that these chips were re-exported to China.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, the investigation is being conducted in collaboration with several agencies, including the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), Royal Malaysian Customs Department (JKDM), Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), and partners from the United States. Tengku Zafrul emphasized that no evidence currently supports the existence of such transfers.
Tengku Zafrul was responding to Senator Rita Sarimah Anak Patrick Insol’s inquiry about the government’s measures to prevent Malaysia from being utilized as a transit or re-export hub for AI chips or ‘advanced semiconductor production tools’ to China, following allegations of re-exportation involving Nvidia chips.
He also highlighted the government’s ongoing efforts to monitor potential fraud cases where companies might import servers containing unused chips. To tackle these issues, a meeting of the Joint Data Centre Task Force, co-chaired by Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo and himself, was scheduled for later in the day.
The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) had earlier announced the formation of a Data Centre Task Force, approved by the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), on February 25. This task force aims to address investment projections, industry challenges, and concerns related to data centres, such as energy consumption and regulatory challenges.
On March 3, MITI confirmed an ongoing investigation into the allegations that Nvidia AI chips in servers tied to the fraud case were moved from Singapore to Malaysia. This probe was initiated following a report quoting Singapore’s Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who mentioned that servers involved in a fraud case might have contained Nvidia AI chips, which were subsequently transferred to Malaysia.
Reports from Singapore also suggested that the chips were embedded in servers supplied by Dell and Supermicro to companies based in Singapore before being shipped to Malaysia.