The Justice Department (DOJ) took over an investigation into whether Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer, sent restricted AI chips to China. Department of Commerce agents spent months on the case before Justice asked them to pause. The handoff followed an email from Nvidia’s top lawyer to the agents, and Justice is now pursuing a criminal inquiry.
The Singapore company, Megaspeed, had been importing billions of dollars’ worth of Nvidia equipment into Malaysia. It was building data centers in Southeast Asia for customers including Alibaba. Building data centers to serve Chinese clients is legal. The concern was diversion: whether some of the restricted chips were illegally routed into China.
Nvidia had asked to meet with one agent. When the agents turned it down in August 2025, Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter wrote back. He’d understood from Undersecretary Jeff Kessler, who reports directly to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, that Nvidia could talk to the agents. They sent Kessler the emails. Hours later, he replied that they should handle the case by the book, according to a Commerce official. That official said Kessler gave the agents no instructions on what to tell Nvidia. Some officials thought the contact had broken with procedure and could cause trouble for the case.
Justice does not comment on continuing investigations. Commerce says the agents handled the case by the book. Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo said the company shares what it learns in the field with federal officials, answers their questions and asks for guidance when it needs it. Nvidia says it looked into the Megaspeed shipments in 2025 and debunked the claims that chips went to China. The company also said there was nothing “unusual or unexpected” about Jensen Huang’s dealings with Alice Huang.