Commerce halted its Megaspeed probe after Nvidia stepped in, NYT reports

The Commerce Department stopped its investigation into Megaspeed after Nvidia’s general counsel contacted the agents running it, Ana Swanson and Devlin Barrett reported for The New York Times . The case moved to the Justice Department. It is now running a criminal inquiry into the Singapore company, according to people familiar with the matter cited by the Times. TNW has not independently verified the report.

Megaspeed is the Nvidia customer at the centre of the Jensen Huang affair. A day earlier, Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation into its chief executive. Huang had admitted a relationship with Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive. US officials believe she worked for Chinese intelligence. She is not related to him.

Agents at the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security had spent months on the case, according to the Times. They suspected Megaspeed of smuggling Nvidia’s AI chips into China, in breach of US chip export rules .

In August 2025, with the Megaspeed probe under way, Nvidia’s general counsel, Tim Teter, emailed the agents. He wrote that Jeff Kessler had given Nvidia permission to reach out about the case, the Times reported. Kessler is a senior Commerce official who reports to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The agents declined a meeting and forwarded the emails to Kessler. He replied that they should keep handling the case strictly by the book, a Commerce official told the Times. Some officials still saw the contact as a breach of procedure that could taint the case. The Justice Department then asked Commerce to pause its work, and Commerce complied.

Other agencies have proposed adding Megaspeed to the entity list, the Commerce Department’s trade blacklist. The department has not done so, according to the Times. It has not added any company to the list in more than a year.

A Commerce spokesman told the Times that the department had handled this and other cases strictly by the book. Kessler did not respond to the newspaper, and the Justice Department declined to comment. Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo explained why the company talks to officials.

“To answer their questions, provide information we have gathered from the field, request their guidance and instructions and ask whether they have any follow-ups,” Rizzo told the Times.

A Megaspeed representative told the Times that the company was running its own investigation into the diversion claims. The company had offered to cooperate with the US government but got no answer, the representative said. Megaspeed has denied smuggling chips.

President Donald Trump defended Huang on Sunday evening. He told reporters that Huang should stay on as chief executive. He also said he would take Huang on his upcoming trip to China, the Times reported .

“I haven’t heard he’s done anything wrong. He dealt with somebody, but you know, so does everybody else,” Trump said.

US officials told Trump in October 2025 that Alice Huang had a relationship with Huang and was presumed to be a spy, according to the Times. He said he had no regrets about not acting on that intelligence.

Beijing rejected the spying claims on Monday, the Associated Press reported.

“The so-called Chinese spy allegation is unsubstantiated. It is nothing but smears against China,” foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular briefing.

Nvidia shares fell as much as 8.8% on Monday, at one point wiping almost $400bn off its market value, Bloomberg reported. Huang is also no longer expected at an Anthropic forum for chief executives on Monday evening, Business Insider reported.

Huang has until Wednesday to answer the House committee chairs who asked him to attend a closed-door briefing on 18 November. Nvidia reports its third-quarter results the day before.