The intelligence finding moves the Megaspeed case from a chip-diversion probe toward counterintelligence, raising the political cost of approving Nvidia sales to Southeast Asian cloud operators that serve Chinese clients.
US officials have concluded that Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen and executive at Singapore data-center company Megaspeed, was a Chinese intelligence asset, and that surveillance of her showed a close relationship with Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang. The New York Times reported the finding on October 29, in a story republished by Business Standard. According to the report, President Donald Trump was briefed roughly a year ago and chose not to act, and Jensen Huang has not received a defensive briefing, the warning sometimes given to Americans targeted by foreign intelligence services.
The report rests on people briefed on classified surveillance. It does not say what information Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, passed to Beijing or what it was worth. When Trump was briefed, officials did not believe that Jensen Huang knew of her role, though some senior officials now doubt he was unaware, the Times reported.
For investors, the more concrete material concerns Megaspeed’s chip purchases. The company has been under US investigation for more than a year on suspicion of helping Chinese customers reach Nvidia processors that US rules bar from China.
Megaspeed’s Nvidia purchases sit at the center of a widening case
Megaspeed’s Malaysian sister company bought at least US$4.8 billion of advanced AI equipment containing Nvidia chips between June 2024 and February 2026. The Times based that figure on ImportGenius trade records. The equipment came from the American arm of Inspur, a Chinese server maker whose parent company is on a US blacklist; the US arm itself is not sanctioned.
Megaspeed rents computing power to Chinese companies, including Alibaba, and operates a data center in Malaysia, according to the report. Investigators suspect that some of its chips reached China illegally.
The Commerce Department began investigating Megaspeed in late 2024, after an official visiting its Malaysian data center found Nvidia equipment still packed in boxes. The case was handed to the Justice Department this year. Singapore questioned Alice Huang in 2025 and later released her. Surveillance of her continues, and companies affiliated with her bought Nvidia chips again this year, the Times reported.
Nvidia calls the relationship routine and its chip checks complete
Nvidia rejects the suggestion that anything unusual took place. "Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected," spokesman John Rizzo told the Times. The company describes Megaspeed as an ordinary regional cloud customer, says it investigated and debunked earlier smuggling claims, and says it has no evidence of diversion.
Jensen Huang made the same case himself. In an interview with Bloomberg News, reported by Reuters, he called Nvidia’s business with Megaspeed International "normal and not unusual" and said, "We’ve studied all their deployments of our GPUs and counted every one." He described his contact with the executive as typical of his dealings with Chinese customers and said she no longer works at Megaspeed.
Megaspeed said its "current leadership" takes the allegations "extremely seriously," has hired outside counsel for an internal investigation and has told the US government it will cooperate. The White House, the CIA and the National Security Agency declined to comment. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, Liu Chang, called the reporting part of a campaign of "groundless smears and slanders." Alice Huang did not respond.
The report adds a political dimension. The Times describes Jensen Huang as influential on technology policy in Washington, including through the deal he negotiated that gives the US government a 25% stake in certain Nvidia chips sold to China. It also reports officials’ view that the relationship between the president and the Nvidia chief has slowed some Commerce Department investigations and proposed sanctions.
The Inspur connection is not new to the case: EastFrontier reported in September that Inspur’s US unit faced fresh questions over its access to AI chips. The Times report ties that supply route to a named customer and billions of dollars of purchases.
The Justice Department case is the next marker
Several outcomes would change the picture for Nvidia and for operators like Megaspeed. A charge or a filing from the Justice Department would show whether investigators believe chips were diverted. A response from Malaysia, where the equipment sits, would show whether host governments tighten oversight of data centers that serve Chinese clients remotely.
In Washington, the report hands material to lawmakers who want tighter rules on remote access to US chips and on regional cloud resellers, and it complicates Nvidia’s argument that smuggling is a minor issue. Whether Commerce or Congress acts on Megaspeed’s affiliated companies, which the Times says kept buying Nvidia chips this year, is the development to watch.