Spying scandal at Nvidia: The offices of the multibillion-dollar trading company turned out to be empty

The revelation that Alice Huang, the former manager of the Singapore-based technology company Megaspeed, was collecting company secrets on behalf of China while having a relationship with Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang, caused a scandal.

It is claimed that Megaspeed, acting under the guise of purchasing computer hardware for data centers in Southeast Asia, helped the Beijing administration bypass US trade restrictions by sending Nvidia chips to China.

Singapore police opened an investigation in February 2025 against Megaspeed and several other companies on suspicion of violating or circumventing export controls.

According to the statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Singapore, US inspectors came to Megaspeed in June 2025 for a "post-shipment verification" inspection, and Alice Huang was also present at the company during this inspection.

The Ministry stated that they became aware of the investigation carried out by Washington for the first time that day.

The passport of Alice Huang, who was questioned by the Singapore police on the same day, was confiscated.

Huang, who has not been formally charged, was banned from the city-state in February 2026 on the grounds that he provided false information in order to "minimize his role in Megaspeed", according to a statement by Singapore's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Malaysian government announced today that it is investigating Megaspeed's subsidiary Speedmatrix to determine whether chips imported into the country were exported to other jurisdictions.

While the Beijing administration rejected the allegations of espionage, Megaspeed announced that it had agreed with a US law firm to examine whether it complies with export controls on sensitive chips.

"Megaspeed takes its compliance obligations under US export control laws extremely seriously," the company said in a statement.

AFP reporters visited Megaspeed's office in the Singapore business center of Megaspeed, which positions itself at the center of the artificial intelligence revolution and states that it uses Nvidia's advanced silicon chips to provide high-performance computing power in giant data centers, but they encountered an empty office.

Neighbors of the office, where no employees were seen behind locked glass doors, told AFP they had not seen anyone coming in or out for the past few months.

There were also no employees at the office of subsidiary Speedmatrix, located in a shopping mall in a newly developing neighborhood in Malaysia's Johor region, connected to Singapore by a bridge.

Company records show that Alice Huang was directly involved in the founding of Megaspeed.

A company linked to Huang bought the Singapore arm of Chinese video game developer 7Road International in early 2023, records show, and the company was almost immediately renamed Megaspeed International.

With the arrival of Huang, who appeared as Megaspeed executive for less than a year between March and November 2023, the company transformed from a little-known video game maker to one of Asia's largest buyers of Nvidia chips.

According to accounts submitted by Megaspeed, which describes itself as a "cloud hosting services provider" in 2024, the company's revenue jumped from zero to almost $300 million in 12 months.

During the same period, the value of the company's assets increased from 32 million dollars to approximately 3 billion dollars.

While it is stated that just one of Nvidia's advanced artificial intelligence chips can cost tens of thousands of dollars, Megaspeed has reportedly traded over $4 billion worth of Nvidia chips in two years.

Footprints extending through Singapore, Malaysia and the Cayman Islands indicate that Megaspeed's business volume may have been supported by the connection with Chinese technology giant Alibaba.

According to Singapore government data, Megaspeed's Malaysian subsidiary struck a deal pledging its assets to Apex Enterprise Solutions in Singapore as collateral against contract breaches in 2024.

Apex is affiliated with Cayman Islands-registered Alibaba Group Holding Ltd through a parent company, the data shows.

At the time of this deal, Huang was no longer registered as an official director at Megaspeed, but Singapore authorities stated that he remained "one of the principal controllers" of the company.

Singapore-based Swiftdata, Megaspeed's ultimate holding company, and Megaspeed are managed by Singaporean businessman Tan Yong Pong, who previously ran printing and graphic design companies.

When AFP reporters visited Tan's registered address in eastern Singapore, no one answered the door, but dogs barking could be heard behind the door.

"They are friendly people. I occasionally come across the lady walking her dog on the elevator landing," an elderly neighbor told AFP, adding: "But we haven't seen them for months."

Unable to pinpoint where she lives, where she works, or when she was born, Alice Huang's influence extends from the spartan office in Singapore to the giant data centers in Southeast Asia and the boardrooms of Silicon Valley.

Huang, who is identified as a Chinese citizen with a Hong Kong passport in Singapore business records, is stated to have been born in China's landlocked Hunan province and went to Hong Kong to receive media training, according to the HK01 media outlet.

A reporter for Chinese state television CCTV wrote on the social media platform Weibo that he worked with Huang, but later deleted his post.

The corporate resume published by a Chinese investment company reveals Huang's rapid rise in Asian investment banking.

According to information in his CV, Huang worked at CITIC Securities and Shanghai Hexi Investment after taking a senior role at HSBC around 2012.

In company records filed in Hong Kong, Huang is listed as the director of Nanjing Lingxing Technology, which operates China's popular ride-hailing platform T3.

Nanjing Lingxing Technology's other notable investors include Alibaba and Tencent, as well as state-backed automakers China FAW and Dongfeng Motor Group.