"Nvidia Accused of Pressuring U.S. Probe into 'CEO's Mistress's Company'"

NYT: Contact during Megaspeed investigation
Commerce Department probe halted... case transferred to Justice Department
Nvidia says it was part of the "normal course of business"

Nvidia, already embroiled in controversy over allegations of CEO Jensen Huang's affair and ties to Chinese espionage, is now facing allegations that it exerted pressure on a U.S. government investigation into semiconductor smuggling. Nvidia said the contact was part of its “normal course of business,” but it has emerged that the government investigation was halted after company representatives approached investigators invoking the name of a senior official.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks at an event in Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 19 (local time). Photo by Reuters-Yonhap News.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on Nov. 9 (local time), citing current and former U.S. government officials and people familiar with the case, that the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) transferred the case to the Justice Department after contact from Nvidia while investigating Singaporean data center company Megaspeed last year.

Megaspeed employed Alice Huang (Chinese name: Huang Le) as a senior executive. U.S. authorities believe she worked for Chinese intelligence agencies. She was also the person who had an affair with CEO Huang, and Nvidia has launched its own investigation into the matter.

The U.S. government has been investigating allegations since 2024 that Megaspeed smuggled Nvidia AI semiconductors into China. Megaspeed brought in billions of dollars' worth of Nvidia AI equipment to Malaysia while building data centers in Southeast Asia to secure customers including China's Alibaba. The data center business itself was legal, but U.S. authorities suspected that some of the semiconductors may have been illegally brought into China.

With Nvidia, a semiconductor supplier, potentially among the targets of the investigation, its general counsel, Tim Teter, requested a meeting with BIS investigators in August 2025. He said he had received permission from senior Commerce Department official Jeff Kessler, but his request was denied. Some Commerce Department officials worried that invoking Kessler's name could influence the investigation. The Commerce Department's investigation was subsequently halted, and the case was transferred to the Justice Department. The NYT added, however, that it could not confirm Kessler's direct involvement.

Nvidia denied the allegations. The company said it “consults with government officials to answer their questions, provide information gathered on the ground, and request guidance,” adding that it was cooperating to prevent illegal semiconductor smuggling. Megaspeed also said it was conducting its own investigation and had repeatedly expressed its willingness to cooperate with the U.S. government, but had received no response.

The NYT also noted that other U.S. government agencies had proposed adding Megaspeed to the “trade sanctions list,” commonly known as the “blacklist,” but the Commerce Department had taken no action. The department has not added any new entities to its trade sanctions list for more than a year, the longest gap in the past 18 years.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.