Alice Huang, the central figure in the escalating Nvidia security scandal, pitched multi-million-dollar AI chip deals to investors by boasting of her ability to secure coveted Nvidia GPUs and leveraging her commercial ties to Chinese tech giant Alibaba, claims The FT.

According to investors present at the pitches, Alice Huang and her business partner Kang Wei sought funding in early 2025 for a large-scale data centre project in Southeast Asia worth several hundred million dollars. During the presentations, the pair assured prospective backers that they had “no problem securing GPUs” and cited as a key client for the project.

Under current US export controls, Chinese companies are legally permitted to lease data centre capacity outside China, but ownership of advanced Nvidia GPUs by Chinese entities remains strictly restricted. Investors noted that Alice Huang never disclosed any personal or romantic relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during these business dealings.

The executive came under intense international scrutiny after US intelligence officials alleged that Jensen Huang had been targeted in a honeytrap espionage operation by China’s Ministry of State Security.

Intelligence memos indicated that Alice Huang, who was briefly registered as an executive at Singapore-based data centre firm in 2023, had been recruited to lobby for relaxed US chip restrictions and gain insights into American hardware. Megaspeed has faced multi-jurisdictional investigations regarding alleged chip smuggling, though the company has strongly denied any illicit activity.

Megaspeed’s rapid financial scaling relied heavily on its association with Alibaba. Company records indicate that Alibaba, via a Singaporean subsidiary, extended substantial financing to Megaspeed’s Malaysian division in June 2024, with the subsidiary pledging its entire business as collateral.

Alibaba served as Megaspeed’s anchor customer for its regional cloud services, which sources indicate helped open doors for the company when meeting with hardware procurement teams at Nvidia.

The revelations have sent immediate ripples through the markets. Nvidia shares dropped 7% in early trading following the company’s announcement of an independent board investigation into the reports. Meanwhile, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the espionage allegations as groundless smears and defamation.

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