(April 11): The Chinese-born entrepreneur at the center of a Singapore server-computer fraud case 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 naturalised Singaporean who owns or helps to manage at least 15 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 data networks, according to the database.

His international network 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, 49, is one of three men charged by Singapore authorities of masking the real destinations of hundreds of millions of dollars of American computer servers they purchased.

The high-profile case could cast light on how US technology 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 network systems services he incorporated in 2003, 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 data 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 software and computer wholesale, Wei doubled down on data centers in 2023, 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-4 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 said on its website. A list on Nvidia’s website confirms Aperia is one of 31 official partners in Singapore. A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment.

Wei’s data-center business also quickly 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 announced new export curbs on Nvidia’s then-most advanced tech in an attempt 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 potential 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 case, 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 said 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 potential role in how Nvidia chips subject to US export controls end up in China. Nvidia asked Super Micro and Dell to audit customers in Southeast Asia to verify that they still possess the Nvidia-powered servers they bought, the Information reported 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 potential prison terms and fines. Wei and Woon both face two charges, which each carry a penalty of up to 20 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 steps in the court proceedings, which are at an early stage. The next hearing is scheduled for May 2.

Wei’s business earned him some fame in Singapore’s tech circles. Under two posts on his Facebook page of him at a gym in late 2021, 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$55 million (US$41 million or RM183.59 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 2023, Wei discussed how the Covid-19 pandemic drove small businesses to outsource IT tasks to A-Speed. His deputy and fellow suspect in the Singapore case, 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 investigation. 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 said in a statement.

Uploaded by Jason Ng