Singapore man accused of chip fraud wields Silicon Valley and global connections

By Gao Yuan and Low De Wei Bloomberg The Chinese-born entrepreneur at the center of a Singapore server-computer fraud episode helps to run more than a dozen companies with ties to tech leaders including AI-chip provider Nvidia Corp serving clients in the island state and markets such as Malaysia Alan Wei Zhaolun a naturalized Singaporean who owns or helps to manage at least firms including Aperia Cloud Services and A-Speed Infotech Pte spent more than two decades building his businesses in Asia according to the city-state s corporate registry They operate in fields such as computers and figures networks according to the database Related Articles Bay Area Gen-Z entrepreneur uses AI to help job seekers Nokia eyes hundreds of new jobs at big tech production hub in San Jose Commission greenlights Microsoft s information center plans in North San Jose These Silicon Valley tech leaders donated to Donald Trump Now they re out billions of dollars Apple has meager incentives to start making iPhones in U S despite Trump s contract war with China His international organization and extensive relationships underscore the global nature of the tech industry which has made it a challenge for the US to enforce its export restrictions Wei is one of three men charged by Singapore agents of masking the real destinations of hundreds of millions of dollars of American computer servers they purchased The high-profile situation could cast light on how US mechanism subject to export restrictions is funneled around the planet The US is relying on the curbs to prevent adversaries such as China from gaining access to its advanced tech including California-based Nvidia s high-end artificial intelligence chips The backbone of Wei s business is A-Speed a Singapore-based provider of structure systems services he incorporated in when he was still a Chinese national from Fujian province and known as Wei Lunlun according to the firm s registration documents A-Speed helps clients around the world to build IT infrastructure such as statistics centers and surveillance networks A-Speed also provides tech compliance consultation according to its website Clients range from a large property developer in the city-state to a small restaurant operator according to website registration information After expanding into areas such as system and computer wholesale Wei doubled down on content centers in creating a business named Aperia Cloud Services to target the growing industry That coincided with a surge in data-center demand spurred by groundbreaking AI advancements including the release of GPT- by OpenAI Gemini by Google and Llama by Meta Platforms Inc Enabling such technologies is chips from Nvidia with which Aperia struck a relationship early on saying it s the US company s first preferred partner in Southeast Asia We have been appointed as Nvidia preferred partner enabling us to deliver unmatched expertise in AI solutions leveraging Nvidia s state-of-the-art GPU platforms Aperia reported on its website A list on Nvidia s website confirms Aperia is one of official partners in Singapore A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment Wei s data-center business also speedily expanded to Malaysia with a supplier posting pictures of Aperia s renovated office in Putrajaya near Kuala Lumpur At the opening ceremony lion dancers congratulated Wei with red couplets according to a post on Instagram One of them reads customers will come like clouds in golden Chinese characters Around the same time the Biden administration reported new export curbs on Nvidia s then-most advanced tech in an attempt to slow down Chinese attempts to build AI competitors The effort has turned out to be less than effective with China churning out AI startups and models at a steady pace One expected way China continues to receive Nvidia chips is inside server computers initially shipped to countries not subject to export restrictions such as those in Southeast Asia In Wei s matter prosecutors say the servers were produced by Super Micro Computer Inc and Dell Technologies Inc of the US which were shipped to Malaysia via Singapore Singapore s Law Minister K Shanmugam disclosed in February that the servers potentially contained Nvidia chips subject to US controls Super Micro and Dell haven t been accused of wrongdoing But they are among companies that have been scrutinized for their foreseen role in how Nvidia chips subject to US export controls end up in China Nvidia urged Super Micro and Dell to audit customers in Southeast Asia to verify that they still possess the Nvidia-powered servers they bought the Information shared in December citing a person close to the US Department of Commerce The prosecutors charged Wei and Aaron Woon Guo Jie another Singaporean who worked as chief operating officer of Aperia for making a false representation to Super Micro and Dell that the servers they purchased wouldn t be transferred to persons other than the ones they had declared Investigators are trying to figure out where the servers ended up after they landed in Malaysia If convicted the men could receive anticipated prison terms and fines Wei and Woon both face two charges which each carry a penalty of up to years in prison Wei and his lawyer didn t respond to emails and messages seeking comment Wei and the other men were granted bail in March as they await for next efforts in the court proceedings which are at an early stage The next hearing is scheduled for May Wei s business earned him particular fame in Singapore s tech circles Under two posts on his Facebook page of him at a gym in late current and former executives from International Business Machines Corp Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co and Oracle Corp added warm comments Last year Wei bought a S million million bungalow within walking distance of the scenic Singapore Botanic Gardens according to the city-state s real-estate records which name him as the purchaser In an interview with local newspaper the Business Times in Wei discussed how the Covid- pandemic drove small businesses to outsource IT tasks to A-Speed His deputy and fellow suspect in the Singapore circumstance Woon appeared in media as having attended a high-profile tech event at Singapore s stylish Mandala Club A lot has changed for the men since February when they were among nine people arrested by Singapore s police as part of their examination In Wei s first court appearance he and Woon were handcuffed and wore standard-issue red T-shirts barely speaking a word beyond stating their names Soon after news of their arrests broke Malaysian data-center builder Exsim terminated its contract with Aperia for a project in Bukit Jalil near Aperia s Putrajaya office The decision was made to uphold the integrity of the data-center project Exsim explained in a message More stories like this are available on bloomberg com Bloomberg L P