Probes Follow Report of $7.5 Billion Nvidia Chip Exports to China

By Elena Vasquez

A network tied to Jensen Huang’s girlfriend allegedly sent $7.5 billion in Nvidia AI processors to China, according to The Information. The report, citing two people familiar with the suspect, puts the flow at about 240,000 processors. The reported value and unit count imply roughly $31,250 per processor across the mix.

What are Nvidia and US authorities investigating?

Nvidia, the world’s largest chip company, has opened an internal investigation, while its board and the FBI are examining the case. The central issue is whether 63-year-old Huang became a target of a foreign intelligence operation through the relationship.

President Donald Trump has defended Huang, whom he regards as one of his closest allies in Silicon Valley. Trump considers it credible that the Nvidia chief knew nothing about Alice Huang’s alleged espionage activity.

Democrats, fresh from a win in the latest US midterms, have increased pressure on Trump. Senator Chris Coons announced an investigation on X and wrote: “We need answers to the question of what relationship the AI billionaires have with the Trump administration.” Coons also said investigators must determine whether US national-security interests were violated.

How could 240,000 processors have reached China?

The report centers on Alice Huang, who is not related to Jensen Huang, and an alleged affair with the married Nvidia co-founder and CEO. She and her husband and sister built a corporate network across China and Singapore to circumvent US export restrictions on advanced processors.

Shanghai Century Litong, founded in June 2023, became a preferred Nvidia partner within months and secured priority access to chips. The Information attributes the transfers to that route and puts the volume at about 240,000 H100, H200 and A100 processors.

The chips are older, reduced-specification versions of Nvidia’s leading models that Nvidia initially developed for delivery to China. Washington has tightened export controls in recent years to slow China’s technological and military rise.

Although restrictions have expanded, the H200 can again ship to China under strict conditions. Century Litong also rented data centers, where some servers used Nvidia chips covered by US sanctions.

Chinese groups including Alibaba and Tencent, along with several AI developers, reportedly received access to those servers. Singapore-registered Megaspeed forms part of Alice Huang’s network and is suspected of moving chips from Southeast Asia into China. Nvidia initially did not comment, and the report said none of the implicated companies had responded to the allegations.

How have investors and Taiwan responded?

Shareholders have filed a class action against Nvidia and Huang, alleging they deceived investors by concealing his ties to the suspected Chinese spy. The plaintiffs also say Nvidia failed to disclose national-security concerns that could damage its reputation and business prospects.

In Huang’s native Taiwan, many people reacted with disbelief to the disclosures. Huang is treated there like a pop star and often wears a black leather jacket.

For Nvidia, the reported scale puts partner selection, export-control compliance and board disclosure into one dispute for regulators and investors. The immediate commercial questions are whether the shipments breached US controls and whether Nvidia’s disclosures met shareholder and national-security obligations. The source reports investigations, not findings; it does not establish that Huang knew about the transfers.