Trump Officials Clashed Over Megaspeed AI Chip Sales as Spy Claims Deepened Nvidia Scrutiny
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Nov 11
Trump Officials Clashed Over Megaspeed AI Chip Sales as Spy Claims Deepened Nvidia Scrutiny
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Nov 11
Summary
Scott Bessent pressed Howard Lutnick last week over why the U.S. had not already blocked advanced AI chip sales to Singapore-based Megaspeed, according to people briefed on the exchange.
The confrontation exposed widening friction inside the Trump administration over AI export policy and the Commerce Department’s handling of Nvidia-related risks.
Megaspeed sits at the center of a U.S. probe into whether advanced chips were diverted into China through Southeast Asian data centers, an allegation the company has denied.
The dispute intensified after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged an affair with Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen U.S. intelligence has identified as a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security.
Commerce could now move quickly to restrict Megaspeed through the entity list, a blacklist that requires U.S. exporters to obtain licenses before shipping products.
How will a reported espionage scandal and the cloud loophole reshape global access to Nvidia's advanced AI chips?
Could Southeast Asian data centers give China unrestricted remote access to America's most powerful AI technology?
Nvidia’s $190 Billion Crisis: Espionage Scandal, Export Loopholes, and the 2026 US-China AI Chip Fallout
Overview
The report traces how U.S. export bans on advanced AI chips in 2023 led Alice Huang to help found Megaspeed International, which then bought billions in Nvidia hardware and set up Malaysian data centers to lease computing power to Chinese firms. U.S. intelligence later concluded Alice Huang was a Chinese spy targeting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, prompting high-level warnings and, after media revelations in late 2026, a public admission from Huang about their affair. This triggered a board investigation, a massive stock drop, a shareholder lawsuit, and new U.S. legislation to close export loopholes, all while Nvidia’s market share in China fell sharply to domestic rivals like Huawei.