Nvidia scandal: Singapore firm probes possible US chip export violations

Jensen Huang, Nvidia chief executive, announced the new chips at the company’s developer conference on Monday…Photo Credit: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The Singapore-based company at the centre of the scandal involving Nvidia’s chief and an alleged Chinese spy said on Thursday it was investigating whether it had complied with export controls on sensitive microchips.

Megaspeed International announced the probe after Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, admitted to having an affair, reportedly with a former Megaspeed executive whom the United States suspects of being a Chinese intelligence asset.

The revelations have caused concern that Nvidia’s cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips, purchased by Megaspeed, may have been diverted to China, circumventing US export restrictions designed to prevent Beijing from acquiring the technology.

“Megaspeed has retained a leading US law firm to lead a comprehensive census of its graphics processing units (GPUs) and independently verify its export control compliance practices,” CEO Tan Yong Pong said in a statement posted on the company’s website.

“Megaspeed takes its compliance obligations under US export control laws extremely seriously. Compliance is a fundamental priority for the company, and Megaspeed is committed to working constructively and transparently with the US government,” it said.

The firm said it welcomed “appropriate government scrutiny and is committed to demonstrating through concrete actions that it operates responsibly, transparently, and in accordance with applicable US laws”.

The statement did not mention Nvidia, Huang or the woman with whom he reportedly had an affair, Alice Huang. China has rejected the spying allegations.

Singapore’s police force confirmed to AFP on Thursday that “investigations into Megaspeed are ongoing”, without giving details about the nature of the probe.

It said the city-state “does not condone businesses deliberately using their association with Singapore to circumvent or violate other countries’ export controls”.

Jensen Huang’s future remains unclear, with Nvidia’s board believed to have met following the revelations about the affair and another extramarital relationship with an Nvidia executive. Despite sharing a surname, Jensen Huang and Alice Huang are not related.

Nvidia controls an estimated 90 percent of the market for the chips used to train and run AI models.

The United States has restricted sales of the most advanced such chips to China since 2022, a policy aimed at protecting national security and maintaining American pre-eminence in the development of AI.

AFP