How Megaspeed built a network in Singapore and Malaysia to move $7.5 billion of Nvidia chips to Chinese companies
The chip-smuggling controversy swirling around Nvidia centers on one company: Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud computing provider that, according to several media reports, is suspected of funneling advanced AI processors to Chinese companies.
Key points
- “Chinese firms can access data centers in Singapore and Malaysia—and their computing capacity—without having to import restricted semiconductors,” Ja Ian Chong, a political science expert from the National University of Singapore (NUS), tells Fortune.
- While details of what Megaspeed is alleged to have done remain murky, experts say the case shows how Chinese firms rely on Southeast Asia to skirt U.S.
- “But the ease of shipping [chips] through Singapore and Malaysia also makes them attractive for firms and people who wish to circumvent U.S.
According to The Information, Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, used her personal relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to move at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips through Megaspeed and its Malaysian subsidiary, Speedmatrix.
Additional details
- Singapore says it is investigating Megaspeed for “suspected breaches of our domestic laws,” but it separately rejected reports that its authorities were investigating Alice Huang over the espionage allegations.
- Originally incorporated in 2015 as 7Road International, a Chinese gaming firm with ties to state-backed investors, the company changed its name to Megaspeed in early 2023, the same year that Alice Huang joined the company.
- Malaysia has been one of Southeast Asia’s biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom, drawing $94 billion in data center investments between 2021 and mid-2026, including from global tech hyperscalers like Google, AWS and Microsoft.
- restrictions on sales to China—were eventually used to power data centers built by Shanghai Century Litong, a Chinese firm in which Alice’s younger sister, Huang Yu, is a founding shareholder, according to The Information.
- controls.” Washington restricts the export of Nvidia’s top-end Blackwell and Rubin chips to China, out of fear Beijing could use them to supercharge its AI ambitions.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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