KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia said Friday it was investigating a subsidiary of Megaspeed International over the possible diversion of advanced AI chips to other countries, widening a scandal involving US chip giant Nvidia.
It came the day after Nvidia boss Jensen Huang resigned over an affair, reportedly with Alice Huang -- a suspected Chinese spy and former top executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data centre company.
Megaspeed is under scrutiny for allegedly steering Nvidia AI chips to China despite US export rules designed to slow the development of artificial intelligence technology by Beijing.
Malaysia's Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) said Megaspeed's local subsidiary Speedmatrix is a tenant at data centres in Malaysia and is allowed to bring AI chips into the country without a permit or license.
But since July last year, any entity wanting to "export, reexport, tranship or transit high performance US AI chips from or through Malaysia" must get a permit.
Giving false information to customs authorities about such items is a "serious offence", the ministry said in a statement.
"MITI is therefore working with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department to determine whether any of the chips brought into Malaysia have since been reexported to other countries, and whether such reexports were carried out in accordance with the law."
The ministry said Speedmatrix "has never been cleared" of any wrongdoings.
MITI said it was also working "closely" with authorities in Singapore and the United States "and is considering further measures to strengthen controls where necessary".
Megaspeed is also under investigation in neighbouring Singapore.
Singaporean authorities said servers containing the chips were being exported through the city-state to Malaysia and were suspected of being delivered to other destinations, contrary to declarations made in Singapore.
The Nvidia scandal has wiped almost half a trillion dollars off the company's market capitalisation, as it raises national security fears and leaves the AI industry in uncharted waters.
Singapore said Thursday it had barred Alice Huang, a Chinese national, from re-entering the country in February for giving investigators inaccurate information about her role at Megaspeed, though she was not investigated for espionage. - AFP