Huang's Connections Facilitated $7.5 Billion in Nvidia Chip Shipments to China
The extramarital relationship between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and entrepreneur Alice Huang, who is suspected of espionage on behalf of Beijing, helped organize $7.5 billion worth of chip shipments.
In June 2023, Century Litong emerged in Shanghai as the central company in a network created by Alice Huang along with her husband and sister to procure Nvidia chips. By October, the company had secured the status of a privileged Nvidia cloud partner and gained priority access to the manufacturer's products.
One of Century Litong's founders was an entity effectively controlled by the entrepreneur's sister, Huang Yu. In 2024, she exited the company. When shipments of Nvidia chips subject to U.S. export restrictions became complicated, Huang leveraged her connections within the company and among distributors. As a result, approximately 240,000 H100 and H200 accelerators, along with some A100 units, were imported into China.
Century Litong leased computing power and managed data centers equipped with Nvidia accelerators, including hardware whose sale in China was prohibited. Some of these resources were accessed by Alibaba, Tencent, and smaller Chinese AI laboratories.
Huang also held an executive position at Singapore-based Megaspeed, which is linked to Century Litong. U.S. authorities are currently investigating Megaspeed's activities due to its role in supplying Nvidia products from Southeast Asia to China. The company provided Chinese clients with access to computing power in regional data centers or physically shipped equipment to China. Hardware purchased by Malaysian Speedmatrix, established in 2024 as a subsidiary of Megaspeed, later made its way to Century Litong.
