US Probes Kuehne+Nagel Unit Over 47 AI Chip Shipments

US authorities are examining 47 shipments handled in 2024 by Apex Logistics, the Singapore-based freight forwarder owned by Kuehne+Nagel, over suspected illegal movement of Nvidia-powered AI chips into China. Bloomberg first reported the investigation, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is scrutinizing whether Apex transported AI servers built by Super Micro Computer — servers containing restricted Nvidia chips — along a route that ran from Taiwan to the United States, then to Southeast Asia and finally Hong Kong, before the hardware entered mainland China. The number of chips involved is not known.

Why this case breaks new legal ground?

If the investigation leads to enforcement action, it would be the first case brought against a transportation company for alleged participation in the illegal semiconductor trade. Until now, Washington has pursued chip diversion by tightening customer checks on manufacturers and prosecuting the individuals who arrange the deals — not the manufacturers, brokers or buyers, and certainly not the forwarder that physically moves the goods.

That distinction is precisely what regulators appear to be testing. A forwarder's job is to move what a customer books, generally without visibility into a shipment's ultimate destination once it changes hands further down the chain. The question is whether that defense still holds when the cargo itself is subject to national security controls.

What are the companies saying?

A Kuehne+Nagel spokesperson confirmed that Apex "is fully cooperating with the relevant authorities regarding this isolated matter within a wider US government investigation." The parent company "has not been contacted by the authorities" and could not comment further while the matter remains under investigation, the spokesperson added.

Apex itself acknowledged US concern over "a small number of shipments that Apex handled in 2024 and which may have involved materials and equipment which were ultimately forwarded to prohibited locations." The company said it has introduced enhanced compliance procedures since the investigation began and is committed to full compliance with applicable regulations. BIS has declined to comment.

Nothing has been proven. Both companies say they are cooperating. That should be stated plainly, because the stakes are not small.

How large is Apex within Kuehne+Nagel's network?

Apex moved 420,000 tonnes of airfreight in 2024, according to Partners Group, the private equity firm that sold its stake in the company to Kuehne+Nagel that year. Kuehne+Nagel's air logistics division handled 2.1 million tons across the same year — placing Apex at roughly a fifth of the group's total airfreight volume. One in five tonnes, in other words.

Kuehne+Nagel has separately credited Apex with driving much of its recent air cargo growth, citing particular strength in semiconductors and e-commerce shipments out of Asia. The unit at the center of the investigation is the same unit powering the group's airfreight expansion.

What rules does the case turn on?

The export restrictions at issue date to October 2022, when BIS introduced sweeping controls on advanced computing chips, the equipment used to manufacture them, and the supercomputing capabilities they enable. The Commerce Department has said the rules exist to limit China's ability to acquire technology with military applications, including artificial intelligence. The controls have been expanded twice since — most recently in December 2024.

Why does the timing matter?

The scrutiny lands at an awkward moment for the industry. Carriers and forwarders have spent much of the past year competing for exactly this category of freight — high-value, high-priority cloud, semiconductor and AI hardware — as it displaced lower-value cargo on capacity-constrained routes.

An investigation into how that freight moved, rather than simply how much of it moved, is a different kind of scrutiny than the sector has faced thus far. The same cargo that reshaped American airfreight over the past year has now drawn its first noteworthy legal examination of the logistics chain behind it.

Separately, Kuehne+Nagel and Amazon have entered a long-term strategic collaboration covering logistics for Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure projects — from construction and equipment deployment to maintenance and expansion. Global airfreight capabilities and digital expertise will support resilience and efficiency as Amazon and AWS scale infrastructure operations worldwide.

For an industry whose growth increasingly runs through Asia-US lanes carrying precisely the hardware Washington is trying to keep out of China, the Apex case is worth watching — not only for its outcome, but for what it reveals about where compliance obligations may be heading next.