Der Chip-Krieg erreicht die Logistikbranche: Kühne + Nagel nimmt nach Ermittlungen der US-Strafbehörden asiatische Tochter unter die Lupe
Der Export der meisten KI-Halbleiter von Nvidia nach China ist verboten. Schmugglern eröffnet sich dadurch ein Milliardengeschäft. Logistikfirmen müssen genau schauen, mit wem sie zusammenarbeiten.
The war over chips has reached the logistics industry as US authorities investigate a major Asian subsidiary of Kühne + Nagel. The company, Apex Logistics, based in Singapore, is accused of aiding the smuggling of valuable Nvidia chips to China. Nvidia is the leading global developer of powerful chips for artificial intelligence (AI) model training and deployment.
US export restrictions since 2022 have created a billion-dollar black market for smuggling Nvidia chips to China. Apex profited from two former employees providing false labels for shipping racks containing Nvidia chips, making them exempt from US export controls. The chips were then transported from Taiwan to the US, then to a location outside China before being shipped to Hong Kong and finally into China.
The products were assembled with the chips by Super Micro Computer, a California-based company specializing in data center equipment, which saw an 80% revenue increase in the previous fiscal year. Apex acquired Kühne + Nagel in spring 2021 and had a 24.9% minority stake until October when it was returned to the logistics company.
The US authorities' move against a logistics company is a warning sign for the industry, as chip wars between the US and China continue.
Written by urgent.news from NZZ Wirtschaft's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
