Following the revelation by Singapore’s Minister for Home Affairs and Law, K. Shanmugam, on March 3 that the police were investigating whether servers from U.S. firms Dell and Supermicro—containing high-value chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications—had been shipped to unknown destinations after initially being sent to a Singapore-based company and later exported to Malaysia, the news has shaken Malaysia’s rapidly growing data center industry.
The investigation by Singaporean authorities also involves Nvidia chips allegedly smuggled to a third country, with Malaysia seen as the final destination.
NationGate’s Stock Plunge
After the news broke at noon on March 3, the stock price of Malaysian hardware manufacturer NationGate plummeted to the maximum daily limit of 30%, causing a market capitalization loss of RM1.3 billion (S$391 million).
Why Was NationGate Affected?
NationGate produces servers for companies like Dell and Supermicro, which are then shipped to Nvidia Cloud Partner (NCP) Aperia Cloud, a Singapore-based company.
At the same time, Aperia Cloud Services Singapore is also a partner of a major Nvidia Cloud Partner associated with Exsim Holdings Bhd, which is developing a data center in Malaysia.
Therefore, the investigation into Aperia Cloud Services by Singaporean authorities has also had repercussions on Malaysian companies.
NationGate denied any involvement with Aperia Cloud, prompting a Unusual Market Activity (UMA) inquiry by Bursa Malaysia due to the suspicious stock price drop.
NationGate’s founder and managing director, Datuk Ooi Eng Leong, stated that the court case was related to Singapore-based Aperia Cloud, a Nvidia Cloud Partner (NCP), and had no connection to NationGate.
“We are a manufacturer for Nvidia. NCP is one of the end users; they are not our customers,” he clarified.
On March 4, NationGate managed to recover about a quarter of the previous day’s losses on the local stock exchange.
How Was Exsim Holdings Bhd Affected?
The Singaporean investigation into Aperia Cloud also impacted Exsim Holdings Bhd. In addition to NationGate’s stock drop, Exsim’s shares also plunged sharply on March 3. However, there was some recovery on March 5, with its stock price ranging between 0.36 and 0.38 sen over the past five days, reflecting a 1.32% drop (-0.01 MYR).
Exsim acted swiftly to mitigate the situation by immediately terminating its contract with Aperia Cloud Services for the development of the Exsim Hyperscale Data Centre in Bukit Jalil. The company also selected a new tenant to replace Aperia Cloud.
Aperia Cloud Services (Singapore) was initially supposed to be the first tenant for Phase 1 of Exsim’s data center development. However, Exsim announced in a media statement that a Fortune 500-listed Japanese company would replace Aperia Cloud as the primary tenant. This move also helped attract other potential tenants for the data center.
The Exsim Hyperscale Data Centre is designed to meet the needs of large-scale, high-capacity data centers, with a primary focus on cloud services and AI applications.
Given that Aperia Cloud Services is under investigation in Singapore over the smuggling of Nvidia chips, its operations will undoubtedly have a significant impact on the two Malaysian companies involved.
Arrest of Aperia Cloud CEO and Two Others
The investigation has so far led to the indictment of two Singaporeans and one Chinese national for fraud on February 27, in connection with Nvidia.
The three individuals are:
- Aaron Woon Guo Jie, 41 (Singaporean)
- Alan Wei Zhaolun, 49 (Singaporean)
- Li Ming, 51 (Chinese national)
Li Ming was charged with fraud in 2023 for allegedly deceiving a server supplier by falsely claiming that a company named Luxuriate Your Life was the end user of certain goods.
Alan Wei Zhaolun and Aaron Woon Guo Jie were charged in 2024 for collaborating in a fraud scheme against the same server supplier. Court documents refer to the goods involved but do not specify them explicitly.
Both were accused of making false statements, claiming that the goods would not be transferred to parties other than the authorized end users.
Besides being the CEO of Aperia Cloud Services and its subsidiaries A-Speed Infotech and Aurica, Alan Wei Zhaolun is also linked to several firms in Singapore, including Achieva Tech Allianz and Altrics Global Services.
Serial Achieva Limited Singapore Also Affected
In September last year, Achieva Tech Allianz, a subsidiary of Serial Achieva, partnered with Alan Wei Zhaolun’s company, A-Speed Infotech.
However, following Alan Wei Zhaolun’s indictment on February 25 for criminal conspiracy to commit fraud against a server supplier, Serial Achieva immediately terminated its joint venture agreement with A-Speed Infotech.
Aperia Cloud, Exsim, and NationGate
It is clear that Aperia Cloud Services is Nvidia Cloud Partner (NCP) for Singapore. In Malaysia, it only has business relationships with Exsim and NationGate, but neither of these companies are registered Nvidia Cloud Partners (NCPs) in Malaysia.
If NationGate is a server manufacturer for companies like Dell and Supermicro, and Exsim was set to host Aperia Cloud as the first tenant for Phase 1 of its data center in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, both companies have since denied any involvement with the case to Bursa Malaysia.
What is clear is that no Malaysian-registered Nvidia Cloud Partner (NCP) is involved in the smuggling of Nvidia chips linked to the Singaporean company.
Since Exsim Holdings Bhd has already terminated its contract with Aperia Cloud Services, and Serial Achieva has done the same, will Nvidia revoke Aperia Cloud Services’ status as a Nvidia Cloud Partner (NCP) in Singapore for damaging its reputation?
