U.S. Agency Investigates 47 Shipments of Servers with Nvidia Chips. They Were Supposed to End Up in China, Investigation Targets Logistics Company for First Time

The U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating Singapore-based logistics company Apex Logistics on suspicion that it may have helped get servers with Nvidia chips to China, which are subject to American export restrictions. Apex is a subsidiary of Swiss shipper Kühne+Nagel, and the Bureau of Industry and Security has, according to Bloomberg, looked into 47 of its shipments from 2024. If authorities proceed with sanctions, according to Bloomberg, it could be the first action against a logistics company for alleged involvement in illegal semiconductor trade. Business Standard (Bloomberg) ↗

The route, which people familiar with the investigation describe according to Bloomberg, had four stops. Servers traveled from Taiwan to the United States, from there to an Asian country outside China, then to Hong Kong, and from Hong Kong to mainland China by road. The U.S. investigation, however, is focusing only on a single segment—the export from the United States to Southeast Asia. Business Standard (Bloomberg) ↗

A key question in the investigation is how the shipments passed through controls. According to someone familiar with the company's response, two employees of Apex at the time labeled the shipment with a code indicating that the goods were not subject to U.S. export controls. Both left the company shortly after the investigation became known, and in its official statement, Apex did not comment on their departure. False labeling is common in similar cases; according to Bloomberg, defendants in other cases declared restricted Nvidia hardware as other electronics or as generic "computer servers." Business Standard (Bloomberg) ↗

Apex stated that it is aware of "concern and interest" from Washington regarding "a small number of shipments that Apex processed in 2024 and which may have involved materials and equipment that ultimately headed to prohibited destinations." According to its own statements, it is fully cooperating with American authorities. Parent company Kühne+Nagel confirmed its subsidiary's cooperation, but at the same time emphasized that it had not been contacted by authorities. "Kühne+Nagel has not been contacted by authorities, and since this case has no connection to Kühne+Nagel and remains the subject of an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further," a spokesman told the AWP agency. cash.ch ↗ n-tv ↗

The group's shares in Europe fell by as much as 4.2 percent, according to Bloomberg, marking the largest intraday drop in more than three months. The case indeed fits into a broader dispute over the export of artificial intelligence hardware. Restrictions on exporting this class of hardware to China were introduced by Washington in 2022 due to concerns that advanced AI chips would help the Chinese military. The trade did not stop; alongside it, a shadow market emerged in which, according to U.S. court documents, chips worth billions of dollars made their way to China. Asian governments, including Singapore, have also begun investigating it, with Singapore declaring that it will not tolerate those who use the city-state to circumvent export controls. Business Standard (Bloomberg) ↗

Apex itself was founded in 2001 as a Chinese air cargo carrier and was acquired by Kühne+Nagel in May 2021, when it was the world's seventh-largest air freight forwarder with revenues of 2.2 billion francs. In a press release from 2025, Apex stated that it had "transformed from a logistics company based in China into a global shipper." According to people familiar with the investigation, Americans targeted it precisely during this transformation, still under the administration of Joe Biden. The death of the founder and long-time head of the Swiss group, Klaus-Michael Kühne, was announced by the group [only three days before the case was made public](/article/logistics-billionaire-klaus-michael-kuhne-dies-0824-1300). Kuehne+Nagel ↗ Business Standard (Bloomberg) ↗

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang questioned concerns about chip diversion as recently as last May. "There is no evidence of any diversion of AI chips," he said at the time. "The Grace Blackwell system weighs nearly two tons, so you're not going to put it in your pocket or backpack anytime soon." But this very weight shows why the attention of authorities may also be shifting to shippers. A two-ton server cannot be carried away in a backpack by anyone; someone has to load it, clear it through customs, and ship it. An Nvidia spokesman now states that the company sells to "known partners" with whom it works to comply with export rules, and that its own inspections have helped uncover suspicions of circumvention that led to federal prosecutions. Business Standard (Bloomberg) ↗

How many servers were in those 47 shipments is unclear. Apex refused to specify and, according to someone familiar with its response, does not even have a complete overview because it relied on codes and labels provided by customers and the two employees. In other chip smuggling cases, however, prosecutors found individual shipments with fifty to sixty servers. The difference is substantial; a hundred servers will barely fill the corner of a data center, but several thousand can noticeably strengthen China's position in the artificial intelligence race. The Bureau of Industry and Security did not comment on the case. It is also unclear whether it is related to other investigations by the bureau. Some of them have led over the past year to charges of smuggling Super Micro Computer hardware. Neither Nvidia nor Super Micro were charged in them. Business Standard (Bloomberg) ↗

Photo: Cargo Boeing 747 in service with Kühne+Nagel at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, 2023. Author: Werner Schmidt / Kuehne+Nagel / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0. Image is reduced.