Megaspeed ex-CEO Alice Huang barred from Singapore amid Nvidia saga

Former Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, accused by the US of being a Chinese spy and linked to an extramarital affair with tech giant Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang, has been barred from re-entering Singapore over inaccurate information provided to police.

Huang, a Hong Kong resident, was found to have downplayed her role in Megaspeed in investigations by Singapore police, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Thursday.

In February, Singapore concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish that Huang had committed any offences related to possible inaccurate declarations for which the computing firm was being investigated.

Huang was “issued a stern warning” and left Singapore that month.

Investigations into Megaspeed, an Nvidia chips buyer, were ongoing, the ministry said, adding that Singapore launched investigations into the cloud-computing company in February last year over suspected potential false declarations in relation to the purchase of servers and other relations offences.

The investigations “were not based on any request from any country or sovereign entity”.

The city state first learnt of Washington’s interest in Megaspeed and Alice Huang after the US Bureau of Industry and Security’s post-shipment verification check at the company in June last year, at which Huang was present. Singapore started investigating Huang the same day.

Huang was then the chief executive and chairperson and “one of the key controllers” of the firm, said MHA. “Huang was not based in Singapore, and was not investigated for espionage.”

The physical servers had been purchased by companies, which were under investigation, and exported through Singapore to Malaysia without entering the Singapore market, according to MHA.

Singapore was investigating whether the servers had been routed from Malaysia to other destinations, contrary to declarations made in the city state, said the statement, adding that it sought information from the US and other foreign jurisdictions for verification purposes.

On Thursday, Megaspeed director Tan Yong Pong said in a statement that the firm had cooperated with inspections by the Bureau of Industry and Security, adding that the firm “welcomes appropriate government scrutiny” and “stands ready to cooperate fully” with any other relevant authority from Washington.

“Megaspeed takes its compliance obligations under US export control laws extremely seriously,” said Tan, who signed off as chief executive and chairman of the company. According to Singapore’s business registry, Tan has been the firm’s director since Huang stepped down in 2023.

The firm has hired “a leading US law firm” to lead a review of its graphic processing units and verify its export control compliance practices “to further reinforce [its] commitment to compliance, he added.

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Who is Alice Huang, the woman at the centre of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair scandal?

Megaspeed, which has reportedly bought billions of dollars’ worth of chips from US tech giant Nvidia for its data centres, is under investigation by US authorities over allegations that it helped Chinese firms circumvent American export restrictions on advanced AI chips.

In 2024, Megaspeed’s total assets surged 90-fold to US$2.98 billion from US$32.9 million in 2023, according to Singapore’s records. Its assets were valued at just US$75 in 2022.

The firm’s revenue rose from almost zero in 2023 to US$294 million in 2024. Its total liabilities jumped from US$22.9 million to nearly US$3 billion during the same period. The company had US$20,300 in liabilities in 2022.