Megaspeed, the Singapore-based company described as the biggest buyer of Nvidia chips in south-east Asia, says Alice Huang, a suspected China spy who has been linked to Nvidia's former boss Jensen Huang, left her executive role at the firm in August last year. Jensen Huang resigned as chief executive of the AI chip-making giant Nvidia after it emerged he had allegedly had affairs with Alice Huang as well as with one of his employees.
The scandal has raised questions about whether high-end AI chips may have ended up in China despite US export restrictions. Megaspeed is suspected of giving Chinese companies backdoor access to Nvidia chips through its data centres in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. The company said on Sunday it had launched an internal investigation, citing reports containing assertions about its business that are not supported by verifiable evidence, and said it has retained external legal counsel and conducts legitimate and lawful business.S1
On Friday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blamed fellow cabinet member Howard Lutnick's commerce department for failing to properly oversee the export of high-end chips, telling CNBC that several agencies had favoured putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months but that Commerce holds the pen. The entity list restricts US trade with overseas firms and individuals. Lutnick is due to testify before the Senate Banking Committee next month over his department's role in allowing Nvidia to export advanced chips, and other congressional committees have asked him and his department to retain all records relating to Nvidia and Jensen Huang.S1
Nvidia has been banned from selling its advanced chips to China. Singapore does not prohibit transferring advanced AI chips to companies abroad, but such moves can breach US export controls, and while Singapore says it does not enforce unilateral controls imposed by other countries, it expects companies in its jurisdiction to respect them. Megaspeed says its frameworks comply with all applicable laws, including US export control requirements. China has denied that Alice Huang is a spy and has warned the US not to use the scandal as a pretext for imposing a technological blockade on AI technology.S1
