Banned Nvidia AI chips found at Chinese data center linked to ex-CEO's former lover - Bloomberg
A Chinese company founded by Alice Huang, whose relationship with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang triggered a scandal that led to his resignation, obtained servers containing advanced Nvidia chips restricted from export to China, Bloomberg reported on November 13, citing corporate documents and people familiar with the transactions.
The servers were installed at a data center in Shanghai linked to several businesses associated with Alice Huang, according to the investigation.
Some of the equipment was originally purchased by Singapore-based Aperia Cloud Services, a former official Nvidia Cloud Partner. Bloomberg traced 22 Dell servers containing Nvidia H800 chips from Aperia to the Shanghai facility. The United States restricted exports of H800 chips to China in 2023.
Chinese financial filings also identified 52 Super Micro servers containing Nvidia H100 or H200 chips, which are subject to US export restrictions. The documents listed a total of 193 servers, valued at approximately $73 million, that were pledged as collateral for loans in January 2025.
The equipment was disclosed by a subsidiary of Shanghai Longteng Intelligent Computing, a company Alice Huang founded about a decade ago. However, she gave up her ownership stake in 2017, and the documents do not establish whether she personally arranged or participated in the transactions.
Bloomberg reported that another shareholder, identified by The Information as Alice Huang's sister, retained majority ownership until January 2026.
Dell said it stopped sales and support to Aperia in February 2025 because of concerns about unauthorized diversion of equipment. Aperia has denied wrongdoing, while Super Micro said its sales complied with applicable US export controls.
Nvidia declined to comment on Bloomberg's latest findings. Megaspeed, another company founded by Alice Huang that is under US investigation over suspected chip smuggling, has denied the allegations.
The findings add to scrutiny surrounding Alice Huang and her relationship with Jensen Huang, who resigned as Nvidia CEO earlier this month after acknowledging an extramarital affair. US authorities have also investigated suspicions that Alice Huang was involved in Chinese intelligence activities, although the documents described by Bloomberg do not establish her involvement in espionage or personally directing the chip shipments.
Nvidia is one of the world's leading suppliers of advanced AI processors, making restrictions on its chip exports a major point of contention between Washington and Beijing.