Mid-sized 'middlemen' in ASEAN have emerged as the region's second-largest buyers of AI compute, lending credibility to prior claims of black-market GPU smuggling and proxy buyers. This surge in demand for NVIDIA AI server chips persists despite ongoing US-China trade tensions, with Shopee and YTL Group also noted as major buyers.
A significant portion of NVIDIA GPU demand is now flowing through opaque ASEAN middlemen, indicating a growing black market for AI compute.