Nvidia's General Counsel Called Commerce Before Megaspeed Probe Stalled

Nvidia's tally of chips sold to Megaspeed undercounted the real figure by about 50,000 units worth billions of dollars, according to Bloomberg's analysis of trade records — a gap at the center of a criminal inquiry that paused after the company's top lawyer phoned his regulator.

General counsel Tim Teter called Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler in late summer 2025 to ask whether the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) had a hand in Singapore's detention of Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive, Bloomberg reported on Nov. 9, citing people familiar with the matter. Singapore police had questioned Huang and barred her from leaving the country. BIS was not involved in the detention, those people said.

The stakes are plain. BIS was investigating whether Megaspeed smuggled Nvidia AI chips into China, and U.S. intelligence officials reportedly believe Huang — the woman at the center of reports about CEO Jensen Huang, no relation — was working for the Chinese government. She has not been charged.

What happened after the phone call?

Bloomberg's sources described an unusual sequence:

• Weeks after the call, BIS staff on the Megaspeed case were told to route all Nvidia-related requests through Kessler, or secure his approval before contacting the company.
• Staff were also told not to mention Megaspeed or its Malaysian subsidiary, Speedmatrix, in external communications. The restrictions applied only to Nvidia.
• Teter sought a meeting with investigators. A BIS official declined; Teter replied he did not understand the refusal, since Kessler had authorized the contact. Kessler then told employees to handle the case by the book.
• In late 2025, the Justice Department asked Commerce to pause its investigation. BIS has made no further progress, although it had enough evidence to proceed, the people said.

The New York Times first reported the emails. Teter wrote to 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. Some officials worried the contact could taint the case, and Justice asked Commerce to suspend and transfer the work. The Times found no evidence Kessler ordered investigators to stop, or that Nvidia shaped the outcome. NBC News, citing a person familiar with the matter, reported that Justice asked for the pause after an Nvidia representative contacted Commerce investigators.

How many chips are missing?

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 its inspections found Megaspeed's hardware where it belonged. The records say otherwise — roughly 50,000 units sold through hardware partners went uncounted. Nvidia later said it had inspected additional warehouses holding the missing hardware, without saying how many chips it found.

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

What do the companies say?

Nvidia said Teter did not know of Jensen Huang's affair with Alice Huang when he called. 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. It told Bloomberg Singapore's investigation concluded earlier this year with no adverse action, and that 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 Southeast Asian data centers serving Chinese customers including Alibaba — legal business, until some chips were suspected of rerouting to China.

The questions now reach the board. Nvidia opened an independent investigation on Nov. 8 into whether Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, saying it has "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised." President Donald Trump said Monday 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. Huang must answer the House China, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence chairmen by Wednesday, Nov. 11, ahead of a requested closed-door briefing on Nov. 18. Nvidia reports third-quarter results on Nov. 17, with the criminal inquiry still open and the export-control file in Justice's hands.