Alice Huang, the woman at the centre of an alleged Chinese espionage operation involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, reportedly pitched investors a multi-million-dollar data centre project in Southeast Asia, promising access to the US company’s advanced artificial intelligence chips.
According to a Financial Times report, Alice Huang and her business partner, Kang Wei, told prospective investors they could secure Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) for the proposed facility. They also identified Chinese technology giant Alibaba as a potential client.
The proposal has attracted attention because Nvidia’s advanced chips are subject to US export controls restricting their sale to certain Chinese companies. Overseas data centres, however, can potentially provide access to computing capacity through leasing arrangements, subject to applicable restrictions.
Alibaba’s financial links
Alice Huang previously worked as an executive at Singapore-based cloud computing company Megaspeed. Documents reviewed by the Financial Times reportedly show that Alibaba’s Singapore subsidiary, Apex Enterprise Solutions, extended a loan to Speed Matrix, Megaspeed’s Malaysian subsidiary, in June 2024.
Speed Matrix pledged its entire business as collateral for the loan.
The report also found that Megaspeed’s balance sheet expanded from $33 million to $3 billion during 2024, largely through transactions involving its subsidiaries. Megaspeed has denied any illicit activity involving Nvidia chips.
Questions over US chip export controls
The developments come amid wider scrutiny of how effectively Washington is enforcing restrictions on China’s access to advanced AI processors.
A separate New York Times report said the US Commerce Department had reviewed and approved dozens of Chinese companies to handle Nvidia’s H200 chips. These reportedly included Baidu, BYD, Tesla Shanghai and ZTE, some of which had previously been blacklisted.
Investigations into certain approved companies, including Beijing-based New Matrix, reportedly found empty offices, unverifiable business operations and unclear ownership structures.
The findings have raised questions about whether existing checks are sufficient to prevent advanced American chips from reaching restricted entities or being used for military purposes.
The allegations involving Alice Huang have not been independently established, and the reported business proposals do not by themselves establish that restricted chips were diverted to China.
Source: Financial Times and The New York Times, via Business Standard
