Malaysia to Target Chip Flow to China Under U.S. Pressure

A March 2025 file image of a Nvidia display at a telecoms fair in Spain. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)

Malaysia will tighten regulations on the trade in semiconductors after coming under U.S. pressure to stem the flow of high-end chips to China. Trade Minister Zafrul Aziz told reporters: “[The US is] asking us to make sure that we monitor every shipment that comes to Malaysia when it involves Nvidia chips […] They want us to make sure that servers end up in the data centers that they’re supposed to and not suddenly move to another ship.”

The Malaysian government is forming a task group to track the flow of chips to its booming data center industry as U.S. pressure increases across the region. Singaporean authorities recently charged three people with aiding the fraudulent sale of servers with Nvidia chips to China. Sales in Nvidia chips in Singapore shot up 740% over recent months, sparking suspicions some could be flowing to China.

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