Company says she left in August last year and holds no current role; stays silent on spy, affair allegations

Singapore authorities considered her a key controlling shareholder; company's assets surged 90-fold in a year

Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive whom former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to having an extramarital affair with. Jensen Huang was also found to have had affairs with two other women. [AP]
Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive whom former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to having an extramarital affair with. Jensen Huang was also found to have had affairs with two other women. [AP]

Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company under suspicion of routing Nvidia's advanced semiconductors to China through illicit channels, said it has no current ties to Alice Huang, who is reported to have had an extramarital affair with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. The company declined to address allegations of links to Chinese intelligence and said its operations are fully legal.

According to the Associated Press on Sunday (local time), Megaspeed said in a statement that Alice Huang "left the company on Aug. 30 last year" and "does not hold any role in the company at present."

Alice Huang had been deeply involved in Megaspeed's management and has drawn scrutiny in recent weeks over allegations of an extramarital relationship with former CEO Jensen Huang and suspected ties to Chinese intelligence agencies.

Megaspeed offered no specific comment on the allegations that Alice Huang spied for China or on her reported affair with Jensen Huang. "We do not comment on Alice Huang's personal and private matters," the company said.

The company also denied the semiconductor smuggling allegations. "We are aware of media reports containing claims for which there is no verifiable evidence," Megaspeed said. "We conduct a legitimate and lawful business."

The company added that it has retained outside legal counsel and plans to conduct a thorough internal investigation.

Questions remain, however, over whether Alice Huang has in fact stepped away from Megaspeed's management.

Alice Huang was reported to have transferred the company to a Singaporean national, Tan Yong Pong (James Tan), in November 2023 and stepped down from its board. Still, a research firm found as recently as May that Megaspeed employees regarded Alice Huang as the company's de facto boss.

Singapore authorities are also said to have treated Alice Huang as Megaspeed's CEO, board chair and key controlling shareholder in their probe — a significant gap between the company's claim that she departed and what regulators determined about her actual role.

Megaspeed's rapid growth has added to the suspicions.

The company traces its origins to Sevenroad International, the Singapore subsidiary of Sevenroad, a gaming company headquartered in Shenzhen, China. It rebranded as Megaspeed in March 2023, after which Alice Huang acquired ownership.

Megaspeed has said it is pursuing data center construction projects across Southeast Asia, but observers have questioned the actual scale and operational substance of those activities.

Particularly striking is the company's total assets, which surged roughly 90-fold between the end of 2023 and 2024, reaching $3 billion.

The sharp expansion in such a short period prompted US and Singaporean authorities to begin scrutinizing Megaspeed's business activities.

The US Commerce Department launched a probe into possible export control violations by Megaspeed in late 2024. Singapore's government has been investigating allegations of fraudulent server purchases since February last year.

Megaspeed has been identified as a potential conduit for diverting Nvidia's high-performance AI semiconductors — restricted under US export controls — to China.

However, it has not been established whether Megaspeed actually violated export control regulations or whether Alice Huang acted on behalf of Chinese intelligence.

Even as Megaspeed denies any connection to Alice Huang and insists its business is above board, the controversy over the alleged semiconductor diversion is likely to persist depending on the outcome of investigations by US and Singaporean authorities.


sjy@heraldcorp.com