Investigation into the Jen-Hsun Huang controversy: What is the origin of the Singapore company where Huang Le works?

(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) The United States is investigating Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's extramarital affair with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, who is accused of spying for Beijing. Against this backdrop, Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud computing company where she once served as an executive, has come under renewed scrutiny. According to reports, the U.S. Department of Commerce had previously conducted a months-long investigation into the company's suspected smuggling of Nvidia chips, but it was suspended after Nvidia's general counsel intervened, and the case is currently under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice.

Company background: formerly known as 7Road International

Industrial and commercial information reviewed by Reuters shows that Nvidia customer Megaspeed was registered under the name 7Road International in 2015 and changed its name to Megaspeed International in March 2023. Agence France-Presse previously reported that this old name suggested that it was related to the Chinese gaming company 7Road.

Megaspeed is wholly owned by Swiftdata, which is registered in Singapore. Swiftdata was established in October 2023. It claims that its main business is "hosting services provided by non-data centers", that is, service companies that provide cloud computing power and servers, rather than traditional data center construction and operators.

Both companies have two Singapore citizens listed among their senior officers, and they are the only registered senior officers of the two companies in the business records. Among them, Tan Yong Pong (sound, Tan Yong Pong) was appointed as a director of Swiftdata on October 31, 2023, and became a director of Megaspeed less than two weeks later. Ng Wei Shi Khloe is the registered company secretary of both companies, and Swiftdata’s address is the same as hers.

According to media reports, during the same period, Huang Le ended his eight-month term as managing director of Megaspeed. Bloomberg said that she claimed to be the company's CEO on LinkedIn, but she never held this position in name. According to Bloomberg, Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter told a White House official about three months ago (around August this year) that Huang Le’s position at Megaspeed was not as important as she claimed.

Reuters could not immediately reach Swiftdata and Megaspeed did not respond to a request for comment.

Business expansion: Assets surged nearly a hundred times in one year

Megaspeed has come under U.S. scrutiny for allegedly helping Beijing obtain Nvidia's advanced artificial intelligence chips, which are restricted for export to China. The company stated on its official website that it is NVIDIA's cloud partner in the Asia-Pacific region, providing services for NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 and HGX H100 systems.

Industrial and commercial information shows that Megaspeed's assets will soar from US$33 million in 2023 to US$3 billion in 2024. The company's revenue jumped from zero to US$294 million in 2024, with an after-tax loss of US$20 million, compared with a loss of only US$21,283 the previous year. The cash flow statement shows that $844,555 was used in investing activities in 2024; in the previous year, financing activities brought in $10 million in cash.

According to the New York Times, Megaspeed began importing billions of dollars worth of NVIDIA advanced artificial intelligence equipment to Malaysia in 2024, and the United States immediately began investigating the company and Huang Le. The company builds data centers across Southeast Asia to serve Chinese customers including Alibaba. This in itself is legal, but U.S. officials are concerned that some of the chips are being illegally transferred to China.

In October 2025, the New York Times first reported that the US government was investigating Megaspeed. Bloomberg cited Malaysian trade records as saying that one month later, in November 2025, Megaspeed still imported at least 17,544 Nvidia GB300 processors, worth approximately US$787 million. GB300 was the most advanced and popular artificial intelligence chip on the market at that time.

Trade records analyzed by Bloomberg show that statistics reported by Nvidia to the U.S. government undercounted 50,000 chips worth billions of dollars sold to Megaspeed through hardware partners. After being pressed about the gap, Nvidia told Bloomberg in December 2025 that it had inspected other Megaspeed warehouses that housed the missing hardware, but declined to say exactly how many chips were found in those facilities or provide any further details.

Bloomberg also reported that Nvidia told Washington officials that two of the eight data center operators it visited said they did not actually have Megaspeed hardware; in addition, Megaspeed has a similar "twin brother" company in China. It's unclear whether Nvidia has communicated with BIS or the Justice Department about these issues.

U.S. Department of Commerce investigation: Nvidia suspended after intervention

According to the New York Times, in August 2025, the Bureau of Industry and Security agent responsible for the case received an email from Nvidia General Counsel Tate. Tate said that Deputy Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler had allowed him to contact him regarding the case. Detectives were alarmed by the move, which some believed violated government procedures and could compromise the integrity of the case. The case was later referred to the Justice Department to avoid jeopardizing the investigation.

Bloomberg reported that Tate first called Kessler in late summer 2025 to ask whether the Bureau of Industry and Security was involved in the detention of Huang Le in Singapore. Since then, Bureau of Industry and Security personnel have asked Nvidia to ask Kessler for approval and were told not to mention Megaspeed or its Malaysian subsidiary Speedmatrix in external communications. The New York Times stated that after Trump returned to the White House, Kessler and other leaders of the Department of Commerce have stipulated that any investigation into Nvidia must first obtain their approval. At the end of 2025, the Department of Justice asked the Bureau of Industry and Safety to suspend the investigation, and there has been no progress in the investigation since then.

The Bureau of Industry and Safety said its enforcement actions are "carried out strictly in accordance with the rules." Nvidia said it communicates with officials to answer questions, provide information and help the government "stop any potential smugglers."

According to the New York Times, although other agencies have proposed adding Megaspeed to the Entity List, the Department of Commerce has not moved forward so far. Bloomberg said that Megaspeed is still an official certified cloud partner of Nvidia, although Tate claimed that Nvidia has stopped doing business with it.

Megaspeed denies the chip transfer accusations and said it has repeatedly offered to cooperate with the U.S. government but has received no response.

Singapore investigation: Huang Le is accused of having been restricted from leaving the country

According to Reuters, in October 2025, the Singapore police stated that they were investigating Megaspeed for "alleged violations of our domestic laws." Earlier, a U.S. senator asked the U.S. Commerce Department to investigate whether the company diverted Nvidia chips.

In October, the Wall Street Journal stated that Singapore was concerned about Huang Le’s relationship with Huang Jen-Hsun, and that relevant authorities were also separately investigating her alleged links with Chinese intelligence agencies. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs responded: "We would like to make it clear that neither the Singapore government nor its officials have said anything like this. There has been no such investigation against Alice Huang (aka Huang Le)." The Ministry of Home Affairs also stated that the investigation into Megaspeed is still continuing.

Bloomberg reported that the Singapore police took Huang Le for questioning in 2025 and restricted her from leaving the country. Agence France-Presse quoted the New York Times as reporting that Singaporean authorities had questioned Huang Le in 2025. Megaspeed said that Singapore’s investigation “into suspected chip transfer-related activities” “ended earlier this year and no adverse action was taken against Megaspeed.”

In recent years, Singapore has become an important place for Chinese companies to set up offices. Reuters pointed out that these companies are trying to "Singapore-wash", that is, setting up their headquarters in trade-oriented Singapore to reduce the risks caused by Sino-US tensions.

Singapore has said it does not enforce "unilateral export controls imposed by other countries" but will "firmly combat companies and individuals who violate our laws and engage in fraudulent and dishonest conduct". Singapore is also currently investigating four other people accused of chip fraud in an unrelated case.