The Information reports 240,000 chips routed through corporate networks in China, Singapore and Malaysia; Alice Huang avoided paper trails while leveraging ties to Jensen Huang

Alice Huang, also known by her Chinese name Huang Le, dines with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at a restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 22 last year. [Reuters]
Alice Huang, also known by her Chinese name Huang Le, dines with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at a restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 22 last year. [Reuters]

Alice Huang, known in Chinese as Huang Le, is suspected of industrial espionage on behalf of China and is alleged to have exploited her relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to funnel American AI semiconductors into China.

The romantic relationship between Jensen Huang and Alice Huang contributed to the diversion and shipment of at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia AI chips to Chinese companies, Reuters reported Tuesday (local time), citing The Information, a US technology publication.

Alice Huang built complex corporate web with alleged husband, sister

According to the report, Alice Huang worked with family members — including Kang Wei, believed to be her husband, and her sister Huang Yu — to build a complex corporate network spanning China, Singapore and Malaysia to acquire Nvidia chips.

Alice Huang introduced Kang Wei publicly as her husband, though The New York Times said it could not confirm whether the two were actually married. The network relied on Shanghai Century Litong, a Chinese company established in June 2023; Megaspeed, a Singapore-incorporated entity; and Speed Matrix, a Malaysian subsidiary of Megaspeed.

Century Litong, in which Huang Yu appears on the founding shareholder list, secured "preferred cloud partner" status with Nvidia just four months after its founding, in October 2023, giving it priority access to chip supplies. When US export controls on China caused Nvidia chip orders to be halted or delayed, Alice Huang stepped in and used her connections at Nvidia and elsewhere to secure supply, according to the report.

240,000 high-performance AI chips smuggled into China; used to train Alibaba and Tencent AI models

The high-performance Nvidia semiconductors that Alice Huang smuggled into China or made available to Chinese entities through data center computing-resource leases totaled 240,000 units, including H100, H200 and A100 chips. The computing capacity they provided reached not only Alibaba and Tencent but also smaller Chinese AI companies for purposes including AI model training. Megaspeed, the company central to this operation, was created when Alice Huang acquired the Singapore subsidiary of Chinese online game developer 7Road in 2023 using a British Virgin Islands shell company and then renamed it, The New York Times reported.

Alice Huang conducted external activities under an executive title at Megaspeed and was listed at one point among the company's executives on its website.

Speed Matrix, Megaspeed's Malaysian subsidiary, secured Alibaba as a key customer by pledging servers and intellectual property as collateral to Apex, an Alibaba subsidiary.

Alice Huang evaded scrutiny by leaving no paper trail

Alice Huang built credibility among technology industry figures and investors by leveraging her relationship with Jensen Huang, while deliberately keeping her own role vague and leaving no documentary trace of her activities.

Investigators found that Alice Huang had met Jensen Huang at locations around the world over the past three years, including Shanghai, Taiwan, Nvidia's Silicon Valley headquarters and a golf resort south of San Jose, California. At a technology event in Taiwan in June 2024, she openly boasted of her access to the CEO, claiming she could summon him on the spot.

Parker Schmidt, CEO of NetThunder, who attended the event, said: "She said, 'Guys, I can bring Jensen here,' and then Jensen appeared right away."

Alice Huang's large-scale AI chip orders ultimately caught the attention of the US Department of Commerce, giving investigators the thread they needed to unravel her operation.

A Commerce Department official dispatched to inspect Megaspeed's data center found stacks of unopened Nvidia equipment on the premises. Taiwanese authorities also began monitoring Alice Huang's visits to the island that year at the US government's request. Singaporean authorities investigated Megaspeed and summoned Alice Huang on charges including false declarations on imports, but that investigation was closed due to insufficient evidence, after which she departed for Shanghai.

Megaspeed has continued to pursue related business since then. Sources said another executive connected to Alice Huang has been overseeing data center construction at the company's Malaysian office, and a separate firm linked to her has also dispatched engineers to the site.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com