Commerce Dept Inquiry into Megaspeed Halted After Nvdia Intervention

The Commerce Department’s months-long inquiry into Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company suspected of diverting Nvidia artificial-intelligence chips to China, was abruptly paused and transferred to the Justice Department. Investigators had been examining Megaspeed’s purchases of billions of dollars in Nvidia equipment for data centers in Southeast Asia serving Chinese clients, including Alibaba. The sales and data-center plans were legal, but officials suspected some chips were being routed into China in violation of U.S. export controls. The case also involved Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive whom U.S. officials believe worked as a Chinese spy and who had a personal relationship with Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang.

The handoff followed an unusual exchange in August 2025: Nvidia’s general counsel contacted Commerce investigators seeking a meeting and said a senior department official had authorized the outreach. After investigators raised the message with that official, he told them to proceed by the book; he did not direct them to share information. Still, officials worried that the contact could compromise the inquiry or create the appearance of undue influence, especially because Nvidia had not been ruled out as a possible subject. The Justice Department requested a pause and is now conducting a criminal investigation. The episode frustrated Commerce investigators and may have delayed action to restrict shipments. It has sharpened scrutiny of the administration’s close engagement with Nvidia, whose chief executive has opposed China export controls, while Commerce has yet to add a company to its trade blacklist in more than a year.