Exsim: Talks to terminate data centre deal began before Aperia's legal woes

• Aperia Cloud was set to be the first tenant in Phase 1 of Exsim’s data centre project. However, on Wednesday, Exsim announced that the contract had been “mutually terminated”.

KUALA LUMPUR (March 6): Exsim has clarified that discussions to terminate its data centre contract with Singapore-based technology company Aperia Cloud Services had started before Aperia Cloud became embroiled in a legal case involving two of its executives.

Aperia Cloud was set to be the first tenant in Phase 1 of Exsim’s data centre project. However, on Wednesday, Exsim announced that the contract had been “mutually terminated”. Exsim said it has secured a “Japanese Fortune 500 company” as the anchor tenant.

“Discussions regarding Aperia Cloud’s contract termination had taken place prior to Aperia's court case, as the contract had provided an avenue for us to a mutual termination,” a spokesperson for Exsim told The Edge on Thursday.

When asked about the timing and reason for the termination, the spokesperson said: “As we progress towards completing the building (data centre) we have received interest from several reputable organisations, including the 'Japanese Fortune 500' company.

“(Other than this), we have no further knowledge about [Aperia Cloud] or the charges against its directors,” the spokesperson added.

Phase 1 of the Exsim Hyperscale Data Centre in Bukit Jalil has been structurally completed, with the certificate of completion and compliance (CCC) targeted for the second quarter of 2025, allowing tenants to begin moving in. Meanwhile, Phase 2 is progressing as scheduled, with piling work already underway and full completion expected in 2026.

Aperia Cloud has come under scrutiny following the termination of both its contracts for the Exsim data centre and legal troubles involving two of its executives, who are currently facing charges in Singapore over the alleged diversion of Nvidia-equipped servers.

Aperia’s chief executive officer Alan Wei Zhaolun and chief operating officer Aaron Woon Guo Jie were first charged with fraud on February 27, alongside Chinese national Li Ming, for allegedly diverting Nvidia’s advanced chips from Singapore to Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) firm DeepSeek.

Further information on Aperia Cloud is limited, as its website now displays an “under maintenance” notice, while its LinkedIn page has been taken down, likely a move to limit public scrutiny following the legal troubles of its executives.

However, a check by The Edge found that Aperia’s largest shareholder is Aurica Pte Ltd, a company owned by Wei and Lee King Wee, a manager at A-Speed Infotech Pte Ltd.

According to news reports on Thursday, Wei and Woon have each been slapped with a second fraud charge, now facing one count for each server supplier they are accused of deceiving. Meanwhile, Li received an additional charge for unauthorised bank-account use.

This development comes as Singapore authorities investigate whether servers from US firms Dell and Supermicro — containing AI-enabled chips — were diverted to unknown destinations. Authorities suspect these servers were initially shipped to Singapore-based companies before being exported to Malaysia.

The case is linked to the US’ export restrictions on Nvidia’s AI chips, with American authorities probing whether DeepSeek bypassed these sanctions by acquiring restricted chips through intermediaries in Malaysia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

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