Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang owns a Blackwell Geforce RTX 50 Series GPU (L) and an RTX 5000 laptop for his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 6, 2025.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
The alarm bell disappeared in 2024 when Singapore unexpectedly appeared nvidia’s The second largest revenue stream. The disclosure has fueled widespread speculation that Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips are being led to China.
These concerns escalated in January after China’s deepsey exploded into the international AI scene due to the cost-effectiveness of sophisticated models. Deepseek’s AI is trained in Nvidia’s graphics processing unit despite export restrictions designed to keep the technology out of China.
Singapore is working to demolish Shadow Network, which traffics Nvidia’s cutting edge AI chips, and late last week, authorities detained three people on charges of intentionally misrepresenting the final destination of a US-made server that probably includes Nvidia’s highly popular chips.
Singapore’s Minister of Home Affairs and Justice K Shanmugam revealed servers from Monday Dell and Super Microcomputer It was shipped to Malaysia and raised important questions. Was Malaysia really the final destination?
Nvidia declined to provide comments on any of these developments.
Nvidia’s shares fell almost 8% on Monday, falling 14% in 2025. This has brought the company’s market capitalization to less than $3 trillion. Supermicro stocks fell 11% on Monday, while Dell stock fell about 6%.
While Singapore firmly rejected allegations that it served as a conduit to China, Nvidia highlighted the key distinction in the sense of becoming a client in its annual report filed last week.
Singapore accounted for 18% of NVIDIA’s total revenue (approximately $24 billion) for the fiscal year ended January 28, based on its “customer billing location,” but under 2% of revenue, about $473 million, was shipped to the country.
“Customers use Singapore to centralize their invoices and our products are almost always shipped elsewhere,” Nvidia said in its annual report.
The arrests in Singapore show that despite the growing scrutiny, a network of sophisticated resellers continues to work.
Mizuho analysts warn that a comprehensive ban on Nvidia chip exports to China could eliminate $4 billion to $5 billion from Nvidia’s expected revenue this year. The company said it was calling for data center sales in China in its fourth quarter revenue, saying its share of data center revenue was “well below the level seen at the start of export restrictions.”
As digital boundaries stiffen between the east and west, silicon smugglers may find new routes. However, the race for AI dominance will continue this high stakes game, guaranteeing an impact that goes far beyond corporate revenue.
Watch: A complete interview with Jordan Schneider from CNBC’s China Talc Podcast and Michelle Caruso Cabrera from MCC Global
