A Financial Times investigation has exposed networks operating in Singapore that help Chinese technology companies obtain advanced US AI chips from Nvidia Corp. and circumvent American export controls, according to a report by Owen Walker1. The investigation ties a suspected Chinese spy and a Singaporean chip deal to the broader Asian networks testing Washington's ability to restrict access to advanced AI semiconductors.
The scandal has triggered a bipartisan push in the US Congress to tighten AI chip export restrictions3. Lawmakers from both parties, citing the scandal involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, have called for multiple bills banning exports of H200-class and more advanced semiconductors to China to be folded into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). A floor vote is seen as possible in the second week of December.
Export restrictions stemming from the Nvidia scandal are expected to ripple through supply strategies at South Korean chipmakers. Morgan Stanley cut its target price for Samsung Electronics by 19% and for SK Hynix by 38%, warning of a possible earnings cliff in 2028. Foreign investors turned net buyers of Korean equities for the first time in eight sessions, and the KOSPI rose 4.39% from the previous session.
The revelations land alongside a separate Reuters report that Northwestern Polytechnical University, a Chinese institution with close ties to the People's Liberation Army and listed on a US export blacklist, purchased Nvidia H200 AI chips last month despite the restriction[3].
ANALYSIS The Singapore diversion networks and the Northwestern Polytechnical University procurement point to persistent gaps in the enforcement of US chip export controls.
A December floor vote on the NDAA provisions, if it proceeds, would mark the most direct legislative action yet linking the Nvidia scandal to binding export restrictions.