How Megaspeed and Alice Huang arrived in Singapore has also drawn attention to gaps that come with the city-state's openness. In March 2023, a 7Road subsidiary in Singapore named Huang as its executive director. She was in charge for eight months before she transferred the company to a Singaporean man.
Singapore's standing as an open chip-trading hub is under strain as a nearly two-year investigation into Megaspeed has yet to produce charges, even as the city-state presses US authorities for more help.
The case has put a spotlight on Singapore's success as a centre for high-end semiconductors and on allegations of illicit trade routed through the island.
For decades Singapore has built a reputation as a business-friendly economy with easy access to both the US and Chinese markets. With the AI boom, it has become a major hub for trade in advanced chips.
Singapore was Nvidia's second-largest billing centre globally last year, accounting for nearly a fifth of what the US chipmaker earned. Less than 1% of those earnings were for chips that actually entered Singapore. The island often serves as a place where Asian firms place orders that are shipped elsewhere.
Singapore does not ban the transfer of advanced AI chips to companies abroad. Officials have said such moves can still breach US export controls.
The government has said it does not enforce"unilateral export controls imposed by other countries"but expects companies in its jurisdiction to respect those rules.
In the Megaspeed matter, companies said the equipment would end up in neighbouring Malaysia. Singapore authorities suspect the final destinations were elsewhere.
Singapore said it had asked US authorities several times for more information from one of the companies under investigation, Supermicro. The BBC understands Supermicro was supplying computer servers to Megaspeed.
"Despite these repeated requests, Singapore has to date received limited information or assistance,"the government said.
Nearly two years after the probe began, Singapore has not brought charges against Megaspeed or against companies and individuals linked to the case. Megaspeed has not answered BBC queries about the company's and Alice Huang's links to China and the Chinese government.
Singapore has long cast itself as neutral between Washington and Beijing. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said the country is neither pro-China nor pro-America, but"pro-Singapore".
Analysts say the Megaspeed case is set to make that balancing act even narrower.