Malaysia blocked a batch of nearly 13 million USD AI chips

On June 26, the Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) announced information about the inspection and seizure campaign conducted at Kuala Lumpur International Airport since June 5, which discovered 72 servers containing modern AI chip models that were transferred to the free trade zone at the airport.

"Preliminary investigation shows that these servers will be re-exported to a country in Asia, which requires a license under Malaysia's Strategic Trade Act," said RMCD Director Zulkifli Muhammad.

These devices were declared as "computer components" to avoid detection. "Malaysia is considered a transit point to avoid restrictions, before the chips are brought to their destination," Mr. Zulkifli said, but declined to give more details because the investigation is ongoing.

Local authorities confiscated the entire batch of servers, while the Malaysian company responsible for shipping the goods was summoned to assist in the investigation. The seized AI chips have an estimated value of 12.93 million USD.

The Malaysian government last year imposed export controls on shipments of high-performance chips originating from the US, after Kuala Lumpur faced pressure from Washington to block the flow of modern AI chips to banned markets.

Malaysia also investigated information that a Chinese business headquartered in the country used a server containing an AI chip developed by Nvidia, but found no evidence of illegal commercial activities.

Diep Anh (According to Reuters)