The Justice Department (DOJ) took over an investigation into whether Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer, sent restricted AI chips to China. Department of Commerce agents spent months on the case before Justice asked them to pause. The handoff followed an email from Nvidia’s top lawyer to the agents, and Justice is now pursuing a criminal inquiry.
The Singapore company, Megaspeed, had been importing billions of dollars’ worth of Nvidia equipment into Malaysia. It was building data centers in Southeast Asia for customers including Alibaba. Building data centers to serve Chinese clients is legal. The concern was diversion: whether some of the restricted chips were illegally routed into China.
Nvidia had asked to meet with one agent. When the agents turned it down in August 2025, Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter wrote back. He’d understood from Undersecretary Jeff Kessler, who reports directly to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, that Nvidia could talk to the agents. They sent Kessler the emails. Hours later, he replied that they should handle the case by the book, according to a Commerce official. That official said Kessler gave the agents no instructions on what to tell Nvidia. Some officials thought the contact had broken with procedure and could cause trouble for the case.
Justice does not comment on continuing investigations. Commerce says the agents handled the case by the book. Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo said the company shares what it learns in the field with federal officials, answers their questions and asks for guidance when it needs it. Nvidia says it looked into the Megaspeed shipments in 2025 and debunked the claims that chips went to China. The company also said there was nothing “unusual or unexpected” about Jensen Huang’s dealings with Alice Huang.
Megaspeed points to inspections by Nvidia and authorities from the U.S. and Malaysia. The company says none turned up evidence that chips were illegally moved.
Jensen Huang has now acknowledged an affair. The Times identified the woman as Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive, and reported that U.S. officials assessed she had worked for Chinese intelligence. Reuters, which calls her a former executive, couldn’t independently confirm the allegations about her.
On Sunday, Nvidia’s board announced that independent directors would investigate with help from outside lawyers.
Nvidia said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised,” but that its “Board’s inquiry will examine all available information.”
Three Republican House committee chairmen, Brian Mast (FL-21), John Moolenaar (MI-02) and Rick Crawford (AR-01), have asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on November 18 and to confirm by November 11.
I’d ask the agents who worked the case to come in, too. Have them walk the chairmen through a shipment. Who was supposed to take delivery, and could the agents establish who actually did? Find out whether more equipment moved after Justice told them to stand down.
A Malaysian destination tells Commerce where the chips were supposed to go. Agents should be able to check whether they got there and whether they stayed. Nvidia can sell to customers who follow American export rules, and it has every reason to want those rules enforced. Justice and Commerce need to work out when agents can get back to tracing the hardware without jeopardizing the criminal case.
Trump said last week he “didn’t know about the specific thing” and wanted Huang to stay on as an adviser unless contrary information emerged. That’s Trump’s call. He should also ask Commerce what its agents found in the case file. If they have grounds to stop a shipment, the time to act is while it’s still at the port.
Editor's Note: This article was updated for clarity.