The key facts

  • Shanghai Longteng Intelligent Computing, founded by Alice Huang, received servers with Nvidia H800, Bloomberg reports citing documents filed to the PRC government
  • The servers were purchased from Dell by Nvidia's Singapore-based partner Aperia Cloud Services; how they ended up at Huang's company is unknown
  • Beijing denies the espionage narrative and calls the accusations a pretext for a 'technological blockade'

Banned chips at the company at the center of the scandal

Shanghai Longteng Intelligent Computing, founded by Alice Huang — a former top executive at the Singapore data-center firm Megaspeed — received servers with Nvidia H800 chips, which Washington has banned from export to China since 2023. Bloomberg reports these figures citing documents filed to the PRC government. According to an unnamed source at the agency, the servers were purchased from Dell Technologies by Aperia Cloud Services, an official Nvidia partner in Singapore. How exactly Shanghai Longteng acquired them, and whether Huang herself was involved, remains unclear.

Political context in the US

The report increases pressure from US lawmakers demanding new restrictions on chip equipment supplies to China. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he is 'in favor of restricting these export supplies,' noting a 'forming consensus in Congress.' According to media reports, a US intelligence memorandum circulated in the spring claiming that Huang was an agent of China's Ministry of State Security; it is also reported that the Commerce Department led by Howard Lutnick may have failed to respond to suspicions that Megaspeed was redirecting restricted Nvidia equipment to China. These claims have not been officially confirmed.

Beijing's reaction and company checks

China denies that Alice Huang is a spy and calls the accusations a pretext for a 'technological blockade.' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated that China opposes 'the abuse of export control measures.' Megaspeed itself said it is checking compliance with export rules, while Malaysia is investigating the possible redirection of advanced AI chips through one of its subsidiaries. The scandal is unfolding against the backdrop of the expected meeting next week between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in Shenzhen.