CORRECTED-Singapore case against three on AI chip fraud charges adjourned until Aug 22

By Jun Yuan Yong

SINGAPORE, June 27 (Reuters) - A Singapore court on Friday adjourned a case against three men charged with fraud by making false representations to unnamed server suppliers until Aug 22.

At the hearing, 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 Chinese national Li Ming, 51.

They were charged earlier with making false representations to the server suppliers about the end users of goods purchased in 2023 and 2024.

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 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.

The servers were supplied by Dell Technologies DELL.N and Super Micro Computer SMCI.O 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 used 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.