Southeast Asia’s chip and data centre industries expect greater scrutiny after news of former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with a suspected Chinese spy put the spotlight on Singapore and Malaysia, executives and analysts said.
asserted
executives → expect → Singapore
US lawmakers from both parties are pushing for tougher restrictions on China’s access to advanced artificial intelligence chips after the Huang scandal increased scrutiny of Nvidia’s role in US national security.
asserted
scandal → push → security
Washington restricts exports to China of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips to protect US dominance of the sector, but lawmakers want to close a loophole that allows Chinese firms to rent computing power from overseas data centres and access the systems equipped with the chips remotely.
asserted
firms → restrict → chips
Tougher regulations could include new export rules and licensing requirements to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, the Wall Street Journal reported.
uncertain
Journal → include → Malaysia
The alleged spy, Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, was an executive at a cloud computing firm in Singapore called Megaspeed that has subsidiaries in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and the US.
asserted
that → call → Thailand
“After this case, every operator in the chain will be expected to know its end user.
asserted
operator → expect → user
Southeast Asian operators will still get Nvidia chips, but proof of where every chip sits and who it serves is now part of the product,” said Ke Yan, head of research at Singapore-based investment research firm Shenton Research.
asserted
Yan → get → Research
‘Post-DeepSeek moment’
Southeast Asia’s data centre industry is thriving.
asserted
industry → thrive → moment
Since 2021, Malaysia has approved 385.7 billion ringgit ($94.67 billion) of data centre-related investments in the country, according to the trade ministry, while Thailand has 42 data centres, representing 3,400 MW of IT load and about 750bn baht ($22.58bn) in investment as of February.
uncertain
Thailand → approve → February
Indonesia’s data centre market was valued at $2.81bn in 2025.
asserted
market → value → 2025
Gary Goh, CEO of Malaysia-based data centre consultancy Sprint DC, likened the current situation to a “post-DeepSeek moment”.
“Once the new rules are out, there will be a lot more restrictions for countries like Malaysia.
asserted
rules → base → Malaysia
There could be a short- to medium-term market shock to the Malaysian data centre market,” said Goh.
uncertain
Goh → say → market
The AI boom has boosted the region, with Singapore in August raising its economic growth forecast to 4.5 per cent to 5.5pc this year, from 2.0pc-4.0pc, citing the AI cycle.
asserted
Singapore → boost → cycle
In Malaysia, rising data centre development projects pushed the construction sector up 6pc in the third quarter of 2026.
asserted
projects → rise → 2026
Singapore’s and Malaysia’s trade ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
asserted
ministries → respond → comment
Malaysia on Thursday said it was weighing a law that will allow the government to monitor data centre operations, including their use of high-performance chips, saying it needed to ensure that any chips subject to US restrictions were imported into Malaysia for domestic use, rather than for re-export.
asserted
chips → say → export
An investor and CEO of an Asian neocloud company, who declined to be named, spent Friday morning in calls with lawyers in the US.
asserted
who → decline → US
“Everyone is still figuring out…
asserted
Everyone → figure → ?
Maybe every time you export something, there will be additional process to go through.
asserted
you → export → something
We are worried about more scrutiny which will make it longer for chips to come through,” the CEO said.
asserted
CEO → worry → scrutiny
In February 2025, Singapore said that while 22pc of Nvidia’s chip sales were booked to entities with operations in Singapore only 1pc physically came to Singapore.
asserted
1pc → say → Singapore
Singapore has also just charged a fifth person in an AI server fraud case.
asserted
Singapore → charge → case
Jarick Seet, head of small-mid caps at Maybank, said the region could weather tighter rules.
uncertain
region → say → rules
“Singapore itself will be more stringent, I think it’s a natural thing that happens.
asserted
that → think → ?
Singapore will tighten rules and the US will tighten rules, but I don’t think this will harm Singapore’s and Malaysia’s prospect of buying chips.”
asserted
this → tighten → chips
A senior executive at a chip maker in Singapore, who declined to be named, even sees a silver lining.
asserted
who → decline → lining
“With Jensen out, then the Chinese will have a harder time getting chips from the US.
asserted
Chinese → have → US
Maybe it is not a bad thing for the non-US people who will have more access to chips.”
asserted
who → have → chips
If the US slows building data centres following Democratic victories in key data-centre states such as Texas and Georgia in midterm elections, “those companies are going to look elsewhere and likely come to countries that can offer them land and deals and power,” the executive said.
asserted
executive → slow → land
“Even if we lose a chunk of the China business, I think we will get other companies coming looking for compute.”
asserted
companies → lose → compute
The Aporia
