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The Finance Base
AI chips

Why Singapore Appeared to Account for 28% of Nvidia’s Business—and Why That Doesn’t Mean the Chips Stayed There

Singapore’s reported share of Nvidia revenue reflected customer billing locations, not necessarily chips delivered there. Later filings and government statements clarify the difference—and why it drew export-control scrutiny.

By TheFinanceBase Team 5 min read
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The 28% figure was a period-specific report about Nvidia revenue associated with customers billed in Singapore—not proof that Singapore bought 28% of Nvidia’s GPUs. Billing location and delivery destination are different: Singapore officials said physical deliveries there were less than 1% of Nvidia’s overall revenue in the relevant quarter, while Nvidia’s later filings showed Singapore at 18% of fiscal 2025 revenue and 20% in fiscal Q1 2026, both by customer billing location.

What the 28% figure does—and does not—measure

The headline figure came from a report published on February 20, 2025. Nvidia’s public geographic disclosures do not identify a separate “Singapore GPU business” or show that 28% of its GPU units went to the country. The comparable figures in Nvidia’s filings are shares of total company revenue by customer billing location. That is a broader and different measure than GPU revenue, unit shipments, or final destination. The period-specific report should therefore not be read as a current or permanent share of Nvidia’s business.

A Singapore billing address identifies where a customer is billed under Nvidia’s reporting approach. It does not, on its own, establish where a product was manufactured, shipped, installed, or ultimately used.

Why billing in Singapore can differ from delivery

Multinational companies often centralize procurement or invoicing in a regional entity. For example, a company could place an order through its Singapore procurement subsidiary, receive an invoice there, and have servers sent directly to a data center in another country. This is an illustration of how the accounting distinction can work, not a claim about a specific Nvidia transaction.

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Nvidia says customers use Singapore to centralize invoicing and that products are “almost always shipped elsewhere.” Singapore’s trade minister has likewise described centralized billing as common among global companies and distinct from the physical destination of goods. Nvidia’s fiscal 2025 filing and the minister’s parliamentary remarks explain the distinction.

  • Billing location: the customer or entity to which the sale is attributed in revenue reporting.
  • Shipment destination: where the goods are physically delivered.
  • End user: the organization that ultimately operates or uses the equipment.

Those can be different places and organizations. A shipment may bypass Singapore entirely, or goods may transit through a hub without being consumed there. The billing percentage alone cannot establish the physical route or final user.

What Nvidia’s later filings show

The figures below use Nvidia’s reported customer billing location, not a count of GPUs shipped to each country. The periods differ, so the percentages should not be treated as a like-for-like measure of physical demand.

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Reporting period Singapore share What the figure measures
Fiscal 2025 18% Share of Nvidia total revenue associated with customer billing locations in Singapore. Nvidia separately said shipments to Singapore were less than 2% of total revenue.
First quarter of fiscal 2026 20% Share of quarterly revenue by customer billing location.

In fiscal 2025, Nvidia reported $130.497 billion in total revenue, of which $23.684 billion was associated with Singapore billing locations. It said customers use Singapore to centralize invoicing while products are almost always shipped elsewhere. In its first-quarter fiscal 2026 filing, Singapore accounted for 20% of revenue by billing location. Fiscal 2025 filing; first-quarter fiscal 2026 filing.

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Singapore’s reported figure can move between periods as large orders, data-center construction schedules, procurement arrangements, product availability, and customer billing entities change. A shift from the reported 28% to 18% or 20% does not by itself show that activity stopped, that the earlier figure was fraudulent, or that products were diverted.

Why the accounting pattern drew export-control scrutiny

Singapore’s role as a regional headquarters, procurement, treasury, logistics, and invoicing hub helps explain why sales attributed to Singapore can exceed deliveries into the country. The same separation between invoice, shipment, and end user can also make a transaction harder to assess when controlled technology is involved.

The issue became politically sensitive amid questions about whether Chinese companies, including entities associated with DeepSeek, obtained restricted Nvidia AI chips through intermediaries outside China. U.S. controls apply to certain advanced computing products and destinations; they do not mean every Nvidia GPU is subject to the same restriction. Applicability can depend on the product, destination, end user, intended use, shipment date, and licensing requirements.

Singapore’s government acknowledged questions about whether DeepSeek had obtained export-controlled Nvidia chips through intermediaries in Singapore and said checks and cooperation were continuing. That is not a finding that the Singapore billing share proves a violation. Singapore’s official statement describes the concern; CNA’s report on the parliamentary response covers the government’s position.

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What Singapore’s government confirmed

In the relevant quarter, Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng said Singapore’s checks found that physical deliveries of Nvidia products into Singapore represented less than 1% of Nvidia’s overall revenue. He said most revenue billed to Singapore-based business entities did not involve physical shipments into Singapore. The statistic is about the value of deliveries relative to company revenue, not the share of GPU units.

The government also said it would not condone businesses using Singapore connections to evade export controls imposed by other countries and that deceptive or dishonest conduct would be investigated. These statements explain the government’s position; they do not establish that a particular Singapore-billed sale was unlawful.

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What the figures cannot prove

A country-level billing statistic is useful for understanding where customers are invoiced, but it is not a transaction-by-transaction map of hardware. The disclosed figures do not establish that:

  • 28% of Nvidia’s GPU units, or 28% of its GPU-only revenue, went to Singapore.
  • 28% of Nvidia products billed in Singapore went to China.
  • Nvidia used Singapore to evade export controls, or that all Singapore-billed transactions were suspicious.
  • DeepSeek obtained restricted chips through a proven Singapore route.
  • Less than 1% physical delivery means there was no legitimate Singapore demand; the figure only describes deliveries relative to Nvidia’s overall revenue in the cited quarter.

At the same time, a normal regional billing arrangement does not automatically settle the compliance question. If a controlled product is sold through an intermediary, the relevant issue is whether the transaction’s actual destination, end user, and end use comply with applicable controls—not just which entity received the invoice.

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Why investors and buyers should read the geography carefully

Revenue by customer billing location can make a regional hub look like a major end market even when goods are shipped elsewhere. It also cannot reveal unit volumes: a small number of high-value AI systems can generate substantial revenue, while a larger number of lower-priced products may contribute less. Readers comparing geographic shares should check the exact period and whether a filing describes billing location or physical shipment.

For organizations involved in cross-border hardware procurement, the distinction is operational as well as financial. Counterparty identity, ultimate end user, destination, product classification, and any required authorization matter more than the billing address alone. Official resources include the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security, the U.S. Consolidated Screening List, and Singapore Customs’ strategic-goods controls.

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