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As Nvidia navigates questions surrounding CEO Jensen Huang and an alleged Chinese spy, focus has shifted to Megaspeed, the Singapore-based data center company where the individual once worked. Megaspeed has grown into a major buyer of Nvidia’s hardware in south-east Asia, drawing investigations from US and Singapore authorities over potential export control violations.
Megaspeed’s Rise and Legal Scrutiny
Founded in 2015 as 7Road International before rebranding in March 2023, Megaspeed experienced a massive surge in assets from $33 million in 2023 to $3 billion in 2024. Owned by the Singapore-registered firm Swiftdata, Megaspeed advertises itself as an Nvidia cloud partner providing access to high-end Graphic Processing Units, including Nvidia’s advanced GB200 NVL72 computing system. The firm manages data center access for major Chinese tech enterprises, notably Alibaba, which provided loan funding to Megaspeed via subsidiaries in June 2024.
Reports in December 2025 by Bloomberg highlighted that Megaspeed had become south-east Asia’s largest buyer of Nvidia chips, prompting investigations by Singapore police and the US government regarding its ownership and potential chip smuggling into China. Megaspeed strongly denied any wrongdoing in a December 2025 statement, asserting that it operates entirely within legal export control boundaries. The US Commerce Department initiated the probe in 2024, which the US Justice Department later took over after an Nvidia executive reached out directly, as reported by the New York Times.
Connections to Nvidia Leadership
Alice H., the former managing director of Megaspeed for eight months in 2023, had an affair with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. According to the Financial Times, she leveraged her access to pitch artificial intelligence chip deals to Chinese investors in early 2025 for a south-east Asian data center project, highlighting her ties to Alibaba and easy chip access.
Nvidia stated in December 2025 that its internal inquiry found no evidence of chip diversion, adding that Megaspeed operated entirely outside China with no Chinese shareholders. Nvidia noted to Bloomberg that inspections of Megaspeed facilities revealed no suspicious activity.
Export Controls and the Global Chip Market
Megaspeed is among several entities accused of facilitating Chinese access to restricted high-performance chips, which are crucial for advanced artificial intelligence development. The United States implemented strict export limitations in 2022 to curb China’s progress in the global artificial intelligence sector, though these rules spawned underground smuggling networks.
US authorities targeted Hao Global, a shell company that pleaded guilty to smuggling Nvidia chips to China in December 2025, and Taiwanese authorities raided Super Micro Computer offices in June 2026 over similar allegations. Although the Trump administration eased some restrictions and approved certain Chinese companies to purchase advanced H200 chips in December 2025, strict licensing controls and domestic Chinese preferences for local alternatives have kept legal shipments limited.
