Reports raise questions about Chinese buyers of Nvidia chips, including an approved buyer with an empty office
A reported US intelligence memo says a Megaspeed executive was recruited to spy on Jensen Huang. Separately, a firm cleared to buy H200 chips listed an office that turned out to be vacant.
A memo circulated earlier this year, reportedly based on US intelligence, claimed that Alice Huang was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to spy on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Alice Huang is an executive at Megaspeed, a company based in Singapore. The New York Times first reported the memo, and the Financial Times then reported that the memo also claimed the two had a romantic relationship, TechCrunch writes. An Nvidia spokesperson told the Times that Jensen Huang's interactions with Alice Huang were "not unusual" and that Nvidia does not share classified information with its customers. A separate Times report looked at New Matrix, a Chinese company the US Commerce Department authorized to buy advanced Nvidia chips. At the office address New Matrix had listed, reporters found only "a hollow gray shell." That raised concerns that the company could be a front for a blacklisted private equity firm. The Verge reports that the government is approving sales of Nvidia's H200 chips to Chinese firms with ties to blacklisted companies, and that critics question whether Commerce or Nvidia is checking these buyers carefully enough. Nvidia said it sells "the first, best and most of our technology in America." The reports bear on how well US export controls on AI chips are being enforced.