At least 240,000 Nvidia chips worth billions of dollars were allegedly funnelled into China through companies linked to a woman identified by US intelligence officials as a suspected Chinese spy, reports say.
Alice Huang, romantically linked to Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, allegedly used her business connections to help move restricted processors worth at least $7.5 billion (£5.62 billion) into China, The Information reported on Tuesday, citing two people who know her.
The claims raise questions about how American AI chips reached China despite tightening US export controls.
A Family-Linked Route Into Nvidia's Supply Chain
Corporate records cited by The Information link Alice Huang's sister, Huang Yu, to Shanghai Century Litong through a company that held a stake when the Chinese firm was founded in June 2023.
By October, Century Litong had secured preferred cloud partner status with Nvidia, giving it an advantage when obtaining Nvidia hardware.
Century Litong denied business dealings with Alice Huang, telling the publication that it secured its Nvidia credentials 'through its professional expertise and compliant channels'.
The report also identified Singapore-based Megaspeed as part of the network. Bloomberg reported that Megaspeed imported at least $4.6 billion (£3.45 billion) in Nvidia equipment between 2023 and November 2025.
Where Did the Chips End Up?
Alibaba, Tencent and smaller Chinese AI developers rely on data centres for computing capacity. The Information reported that some processors acquired by Century Litong later reached those data centres.
Bloomberg reported that Chinese regulatory documents linked AI start-up Moonshot, developer of the Kimi chatbot, to a contract to rent 32 servers equipped with Nvidia's B300 processors.
The $64.8 million (£48.5 million) machines were listed as being in China, despite US restrictions requiring a licence to export the chips. Bloomberg could not determine whether authorisation had been obtained.
Moonshot disputed the documents, saying it had no current business relationship with Lingmeixin, the company identified as the servers' owner. It denied participating in or authorising the financing arrangements.
The Woman Behind the Alleged Chip Network
Behind the companies named in the reports is Alice Huang, whose personal connections allegedly helped her build credibility with business associates and secure access to Nvidia hardware.
According to The Information, she showed colleagues and customers photographs of herself with Jensen Huang, claiming the Nvidia boss marked her birthday each year with dinners or gifts.
She allegedly used those connections to reassure customers that she could help obtain restricted processors when orders ran into supply problems, telling them she had contacts at Nvidia and its distributors.
The two had known each other since at least 2023, but there is no evidence Jensen Huang knowingly participated in export-control violations.
The allegations have now raised a much bigger question for Nvidia: whether its business relationships were exploited as part of a foreign intelligence operation.
Nvidia's National Security Nightmare
These allegations come as Nvidia's board investigates whether its founder was the target of a foreign intelligence operation. US intelligence officials have reportedly identified Alice Huang as an asset of Beijing's Ministry of State Security. The Chinese government denies the allegation.
Nvidia said its board has 'no reason to believe' national security or company secrets were compromised, and that it expects distributors to follow US export rules. A spokesperson said: 'Our due diligence has helped identify suspected attempts to circumvent US export controls, leading to federal prosecutions.'
Trump said the FBI was 'looking into it', while the Justice Department has taken over a probe into whether Megaspeed helped smuggle restricted chips into China. Nvidia shares fell 4.3 per cent on Monday, erasing about $190 billion (£142.33 billion) in value.
The key questions are how the chips moved, who received them and whether export controls were broken. The answers will show whether distributors exploited commercial channels or whether this is a wider national security failure.
