Nvidia artificial intelligence chips worth at least $7.5 billion reached Chinese companies through a network linked to Alice Huang despite U.S. export controls, YTN reported in a Nov. 10 broadcast.
The network supplied chips or access to their computing power, allowing Chinese companies to use equipment affected by U.S. restrictions. The account did not establish how much reached China physically.
YTN's This Is News programme cited Reuters reporting that drew on technology publication The Information. It linked Huang's access to supplies to her personal relationship with Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang.
Alice Huang allegedly built a network of companies across China, Singapore and Malaysia with members of her family. The account described her as a suspected Chinese spy but provided no basis for that suspicion.
The network used a Shanghai company established in June 2023 and Speed Matrix, a Malaysian subsidiary of Singapore-based Megaspeed. The Shanghai company obtained Nvidia's preferred cloud partner status in October 2023, gaining priority access to chips.
When U.S. export controls caused Nvidia chip orders to be suspended or delayed, Alice Huang used her connections with Nvidia and others to secure supplies.
The equipment involved totalled 240,000 high-performance chips, including H100 and H200 models. Chinese companies received them either directly or through rented computing capacity at data centres.
Alibaba, Tencent and smaller Chinese artificial intelligence companies used that computing capacity for tasks including training AI models. The account did not specify how many chips each company used.
Megaspeed took its name after Alice Huang acquired a Singapore subsidiary of Chinese online gaming company Seven Roads in 2023 through a British Virgin Islands shell company, The New York Times reported.
Alice Huang appeared at events as a Megaspeed executive and was, at one point, listed among its executives on its website. Speed Matrix secured Alibaba as a major customer through an arrangement involving servers and intellectual property pledged as collateral.
She met Jensen Huang over the past three years in locations including Shanghai, Taiwan and Nvidia's Silicon Valley headquarters. At a technology event in Taiwan in June 2024, she said she could summon him.
U.S. scrutiny followed a large AI chip order detected by the Commerce Department. A department representative found unpacked Nvidia equipment stacked at Megaspeed's data centre. Taiwanese authorities also monitored Alice Huang's movements at Washington's request.
Singapore authorities investigated Megaspeed and summoned Alice Huang over allegations including false import declarations. They closed the investigation for insufficient evidence, and she subsequently left for Shanghai.
Megaspeed continued pursuing related projects, with an executive linked to Alice Huang directing data centre construction in Malaysia and another connected company sending engineers. The account gave no responses from Alice Huang or Nvidia to the allegations.
