[News] Malaysia’s April NVIDIA GPU Imports Hit Record USD 2.74B, Fueling China Rerouting Fears

According to TechNews, citing a post on X by @kakashiii111, official data from the Taiwanese government shows that Malaysia’s GPU imports exceeded USD 2.74 billion in April 2025, setting a new all-time high. As the report notes, the surge has raised questions about whether Malaysia is emerging as a new transshipment hub for NVIDIA chips.

Statistics cited by TechNews show that Malaysia imported USD 6.45 billion worth of GPUs in the first four months of this year—already surpassing the full-year total of USD 4.877 billion in 2024, TechNews highlights.

As per the latest data from Taiwan’s ITA, exports of computer systems from Taiwan to Malaysia reached USD 2.401 billion in March—an increase of 1,389.7% compared to USD 161.18 million in the same month last year.

Notably, as highlighted in the report, most of these GPU imports come from U.S. company NVIDIA, which projected USD 43 billion in revenue for the first quarter of its fiscal year 2025 (February to April). Malaysia’s imports during the same period totaled USD 5.33 billion—equivalent to 13% of NVIDIA’s quarterly revenue, the report underscores.

As the report points out, NVIDIA is not obligated to disclose the physical destination of its GPUs, since its revenue reporting is based on billing location rather than shipment destination.

The report notes that while the final destination of these GPUs remains unclear, the sheer import volume and concentrated sourcing position Malaysia as a key node in the global AI chip supply chain. As the report indicates, with U.S. export controls tightening on China and Southeast Asia, Malaysia’s potential role in sanction circumvention warrants closer scrutiny.

A report by Tom’s Hardware last month also noted that exports of computer systems from Taiwan to Malaysia surged in December 2023, shortly after the U.S. imposed restrictions on advanced CPU and GPU sales to China, citing data from Taiwan’s ITA.

Tom’s Hardware adds that Malaysian firms are not only importing AI servers but have also ramped up purchases of components from Taiwan—potentially including AI accelerators like NVIDIA’s H100. In March, Taiwan’s exports of computer parts to Malaysia rose to USD 60.83 million, up from USD 27.04 million in March 2023 and just USD 15 million in the same month a year earlier.

There are a few important caveats. Taiwan’s ITA tracks exports using HS codes, with all computer systems—ranging from low-cost laptops and tablets to high-end AI, HPC, and storage servers—grouped under heading 8471 with various suffixes. However, the ITA only provides data at the heading level, meaning exports under 8471 include everything from budget notebooks to ultra-expensive NVIDIA DGX and HGX AI servers (which NVIDIA classifies under 8471.50).

Similarly, AI accelerators and graphics cards are categorized as computer system components under heading 8473, with NVIDIA’s products typically falling under 8473.30.

While HS codes alone don’t allow us to clearly distinguish between AI servers and basic laptops, the timing suggests that exports of computer systems from Taiwan to Malaysia began to rise following the U.S. restrictions on advanced AI GPU shipments to China, as indicated by Tom’s Hardware.

In March, The Edge Malaysia, citing Financial Times, reported that Malaysia plans to tighten its semiconductor regulations in response to U.S. pressure, aiming to restrict the potential transfer of advanced AI chips to China. The minister’s remarks came amid a Singapore investigation into servers—believed to contain banned NVIDIA chips—allegedly shipped from Singapore to Malaysia, with suspicions that China was the intended end user, according to Bloomberg.

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(Photo credit: NVIDIA)