US Scrutizes Megaspeed Over Allegations of Smuggling Nvidia AI Chips to China
US intelligence investigates Megaspeed and Alice Huang for allegedly diverting restricted Nvidia AI chips to Beijing following a link to CEO Jensen Huang.
POLICY WIRE — London, UK — The cloud computing firm Megaspeed is under intense scrutiny from US authorities following suspicions that the company facilitated Beijing’s access to high-end Nvidia artificial intelligence hardware. This investigation follows reports of a personal relationship between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and a former director at the firm, identified as Alice Huang, also known by name Huang Le.
Nvidia saw its market valuation plummet by hundreds of billions of dollars recently after the tech chipmaker announced an internal probe into Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang. While the Chinese government has dismissed claims of state espionage as groundless and an attempt to malign the nation, US intelligence officials maintain that Alice Huang was actively transferring sensitive information to Beijing.
Washington has spent several years attempting to block China from acquiring the technical expertise required to rival the US in AI, a field where Nvidia chips are foundational. The focus has now shifted to how Megaspeed may have bypassed export restrictions to deliver these advanced components to the Chinese market.
Originally established in 2015 under the name 7Road International, the company rebranded as Megaspeed International in March 2023 following its acquisition by a British Virgin Islands entity called Huang Le Ltd. Although Alice Huang stepped down as managing director after just eight months in October 2023, internal reports suggest she remains an active figure within the organization.
In November 2023, the firm was sold to Swiftdata, a Singapore-based company that claims to focus primarily on non-data center hosting services. Despite this transition, Megaspeed’s reported assets surged to $3 billion in 2024, marking a massive increase from previous valuations.
According to research from the nonprofit C4ADS, Megaspeed became a major customer for Nvidia, yet US officials are concerned about the flow of restricted technology. Singaporean authorities are now facing pressure to investigate whether the firm was used to divert sensitive AI hardware.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)