DOJ probes reach Nvidia as chip curbs advance after Huang exit

By Grace Kim

Three Justice Department inquiries could reach Nvidia, including an antitrust probe focused on the chipmaker, Semafor reported on Thursday, Nov. 12, citing two administration officials. The report came hours after Jensen Huang resigned as the company’s chief executive.

Two separate inquiries cover Megaspeed, a Singapore cloud company, and server maker Super Micro Computer. Both have examined Alice Huang’s involvement. She is a former Megaspeed executive whom U.S. officials suspect of spying for China, a claim Beijing denies. Semafor saw no sign of criminal charges against Nvidia or Jensen Huang at that point.

What does the Nvidia antitrust inquiry cover?

Semafor did not identify the conduct under review, the Justice Department division handling it or its opening date. The department had opened a probe of Nvidia’s sales practices and acquisitions in August 2024, according to Semafor’s earlier reporting. The new report left open whether Thursday’s inquiry continues that case, begins another or advances a later phase.

What do the Super Micro and Megaspeed cases cover?

Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the Justice Department was examining whether organizations linked to Alice Huang diverted Super Micro hardware to China. CNBC said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York leads the matter. Super Micro shares fell 12%.

On Nov. 9, The New York Times reported that DOJ was running a criminal inquiry into Megaspeed after a Commerce Department investigation stalled. MLQ.ai reported on Nov. 10 that Nvidia’s top lawyer had contacted Commerce before the inquiry stalled.

Semafor identifies the Megaspeed and Super Micro matters as separate DOJ probes. Both have examined Alice Huang’s role. Its Nvidia-specific antitrust inquiry is the third probe in the report.

How have the companies responded?

Super Micro told Semafor that Megaspeed had never been its customer. It also said it had cooperated with U.S. and Taiwanese officials and engaged with Singapore authorities. Nvidia, the Justice Department and Megaspeed did not comment to Semafor. Megaspeed denied smuggling chips.

Will Congress tighten chip exports to China?

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Semafor there was a “high probability” Congress would impose more restrictions on chip exports to China. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast said inclusion of chip restrictions in the annual defense bill was very likely, according to Business Insider.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., put the odds at better than even. Speaker Mike Johnson cited a developing congressional consensus. Thune and Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker said no agreement exists to keep the measures in the final bill. House and Senate negotiators are still working on it.

Democratic efforts to add provisions on ending the Iran war could complicate the bill, as could the December government funding deadline. Last year’s GAIN AI Act passed the Senate in the defense bill but was dropped from the final text. Mast’s committee wrote the AI Overwatch Act.

Which chip measures are in the Senate bill?

The Senate version of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act contains three chip measures:

• The Chip Security Act would require location verification for advanced chips after shipment.
• The MATCH Act aims at chipmaking equipment and allied export rules.
• The AI Overwatch Act would give Congress oversight of Commerce Department license decisions for countries of concern, including China.

What are intelligence agencies being asked to investigate?

House Intelligence Subcommittee leaders Darin LaHood, R-Ill., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., sent a letter to five officials:

• Jay Clayton, Director of National Intelligence
• John Ratcliffe, CIA director
• Todd Blanche, attorney general
• Kash Patel, FBI director
• Joshua Rudd, NSA director

Politico reported the request. The lawmakers asked whether Jensen Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang exposed Nvidia to national security risks. They cited concern that China targeted the company to reach restricted high-performance chips. They warned that Chinese control of the technology could train military artificial intelligence systems.

The letter requests written responses and classified briefings on Beijing’s methods, a chronology of possible contacts between Chinese intelligence and Alice Huang, and what each agency knew and with whom it shared that information.

Three House committee chairs separately sought Huang’s testimony. Mast said Huang had agreed to appear before Thanksgiving, according to MLQ.ai’s running coverage of his resignation.

Is Nvidia too big to fail?

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked Congress to assess whether Nvidia is too big to fail and how its failure would affect U.S. banking and credit markets, Reuters reported.

Reed said: “Nvidia has backstopped the AI ecosystem through complex financing transactions.” He also said millions of Americans have economic exposure through retirement accounts and pension funds. He did not propose a specific mechanism in the reported remarks.

The immediate commercial test is whether tighter export controls and post-shipment location verification constrain Nvidia’s China sales before lawmakers settle the fiscal 2027 defense bill. No agreement now ensures that all three chip measures will survive.