Chinese engineers packed hard drives into suitcases and flew them to Malaysia. The drives held more than eighty terabytes of AI training data. US export controls block China from buying advanced computer chips directly. Engineers found a way around these rules. They rented powerful servers at Malaysian data centers.
The planning took several months according to the AI developers. Flying drives proved faster than sending data through internet connections. Engineers used data centers operating under a Singaporean company. These facilities had high-end chips from the Hopper generation. Four different suitcases carried the drives to avoid suspicion.
China actively seeks advanced NVIDIA hardware from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. NVIDIA sold $3.4 billion worth of products to Malaysia last quarter. Much of this equipment serves Chinese AI companies through rental agreements. The US has publicly acknowledged this arrangement. Export restrictions face challenges from China's growing influence across Southeast Asian tech markets.
The planning took several months according to the AI developers. Flying drives proved faster than sending data through internet connections. Engineers used data centers operating under a Singaporean company. These facilities had high-end chips from the Hopper generation. Four different suitcases carried the drives to avoid suspicion.
China actively seeks advanced NVIDIA hardware from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. NVIDIA sold $3.4 billion worth of products to Malaysia last quarter. Much of this equipment serves Chinese AI companies through rental agreements. The US has publicly acknowledged this arrangement. Export restrictions face challenges from China's growing influence across Southeast Asian tech markets.
