Bloomberg: Nvidia Counsel Called Commerce Before Chip Probe Stalled

Nvidia's general counsel, Tim Teter, phoned Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler in late summer 2025 to ask whether BIS was involved in Singapore's detention of Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, Bloomberg News reported on Nov. 9, citing people familiar with the matter. BIS was not involved in that detention, those sources said. Weeks later, the export-control case against Megaspeed stalled.

The call matters because of what followed. The Justice Department asked Commerce in late 2025 to pause the Megaspeed investigation, and the case is now a criminal inquiry, according to the New York Times and NBC News. Bloomberg's sources said BIS had enough evidence to proceed.

What did the restrictions inside BIS involve?

According to Bloomberg's account, BIS employees on the Megaspeed case were told weeks after Teter's call to route all Nvidia-related requests through Kessler, or obtain his approval before contacting the company. They were also told not to mention Megaspeed or its Malaysian subsidiary, Speedmatrix, in external communications. The sources called the restrictions unusual and said they applied only to Nvidia.

Teter then sought a meeting with BIS investigators. A BIS official declined. Teter replied that he did not understand the refusal, since Kessler had authorized him to contact agency staff. Kessler subsequently told employees to handle the case by the book.

The New York Times first reported the related emails on Monday morning. Its reporters wrote that Teter emailed BIS investigators in August 2025, saying Kessler — who reports directly to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — had authorized the contact. Investigators declined the meeting and forwarded the emails to Kessler, who told them to keep handling the case "strictly by the book."

Some officials worried the contact could taint the case, the Times reported. The Justice Department asked Commerce to suspend its work and transfer it. The Times found no evidence that Kessler ordered investigators to stop, or that Nvidia succeeded in shaping the outcome. The criminal inquiry means the case remains open.

NBC News, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that the Justice Department asked Commerce to pause after an Nvidia representative contacted Commerce investigators. The Justice Department declined to comment. A Commerce spokesman said the department had handled this and other cases by the book. Kessler did not respond to the Times.

Where are the missing 50,000 chips?

Bloomberg also examined the hardware. Malaysian trade records from November 2025 show Megaspeed imported at least 17,544 Nvidia GB300 processors worth about $787 million. Nvidia told the U.S. government that its inspections found Megaspeed's hardware where it was supposed to be.

But Bloomberg's analysis of trade records found Nvidia's tallies to the U.S. government undercounted chips sold to Megaspeed through hardware partners by about 50,000 units, worth billions of dollars. Nvidia later said it had inspected additional warehouses holding the missing hardware. It did not say how many chips it found. That omission is notable.

Megaspeed remains an official Nvidia Cloud Partner, Bloomberg reported. Nvidia generally withdraws that designation when it stops doing business with a company. Commerce has not added Megaspeed to its Entity List, although other agencies proposed it. The Times reported Commerce has not added any company to the list in more than a year.

Who is Alice Huang?

Alice Huang is the woman at the center of reports about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who is no relation. U.S. intelligence officials reportedly believe she was working for the Chinese government. She has not been charged. Singapore police had questioned her and barred her from leaving the country.

Nvidia said Teter did not know about Jensen Huang's affair with her when he contacted Kessler. The company also said its outreach to officials is routine. Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo told the Times the company contacts officials "to answer their questions, provide information we have gathered from the field, request their guidance." Nvidia said it works with authorities to stop suspected smuggling "while preserving lawful sales," and that earlier diversion allegations against Megaspeed "were thoroughly investigated and debunked last year."

Megaspeed denies smuggling chips. It told Bloomberg that Singapore's investigation into alleged chip diversion concluded earlier this year with no adverse action. It said its outreach to the U.S. government went unanswered. It told the Times it is running its own investigation and has offered to cooperate. Megaspeed builds data centers in Southeast Asia that serve Chinese customers including Alibaba, which is legal. U.S. authorities suspected some of its chips were rerouted to China.

What happens next?

The questions now reach Nvidia's legal department as well as its CEO. The company's board opened an independent investigation on Nov. 8 into whether Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The board said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised."

President Donald Trump said Monday that the FBI is looking into the matter, and that Huang told him he "had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy." A shareholder has sued Nvidia and Huang over their statements about his ties to Alice Huang. Short seller Culper Research claims Megaspeed is not the only company helping China obtain Nvidia chips. Lawmakers are pushing to write chip export limits into the defense bill.

Huang has until Wednesday, Nov. 11, to answer the House China, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence chairmen, who asked him for a closed-door briefing on Nov. 18. Nvidia reports third-quarter results on Nov. 17. Whether the criminal inquiry proceeds, and whether the Entity List stays empty, will shape how enforceable U.S. chip export controls remain.