The resignation of Nvidia's founder and CEO Jensen Huang, coupled with new US export controls, is set to disrupt how Chinese technology companies secure advanced AI computing power. Washington is preparing rules that would restrict Chinese firms' remote access to cutting-edge chips housed in data centers abroad, a move that could force a strategic rethink among Beijing's tech giants.
Nvidia announced on Thursday that Huang, who co-founded the company in 1993, stepped down immediately as president, CEO, and board member. The company praised his contributions but offered no further details. Colette Kress, Nvidia's executive vice president and chief financial officer, will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor. Harvey Jones, a board member, was appointed as the company's first-ever board chair.
Huang's departure came a day after The New York Times reported that he had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care. On November 8, Huang admitted to an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed International, whom US officials suspect of spying for Beijing. The scandal has already raised questions about Nvidia's compliance and its future dealings with China, as the affair could cost Nvidia billions in lost business and reputational damage.
New US rules target remote access
According to The Information, the US Commerce Department is finalizing a rule that would expand existing semiconductor export controls to seven additional countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Norway, and South Africa. These nations would require export licenses to import Nvidia Blackwell-class or more advanced chips. However, data centers operated by US companies in these countries would be exempt, provided they restrict remote access from arms-embargoed nations like China and Russia. They would also need to report their local customers and computing scale.
In practice, US cloud giants could continue shipping top-end Nvidia chips to their Southeast Asian facilities as long as they keep Chinese users out. Local and Chinese-linked operators, however, would need a license for each shipment. The proposed rule is stricter than Nvidia's own self-imposed limits, which reportedly require that at least 51% of new business go to non-Chinese customers, allowing Chinese clients up to 49%.
The new rule also explains why Oracle canceled a five-year leasing deal with Tencent worth about US$7 billion, which would have given Tencent access to roughly 100,000 advanced AI chips in Oracle's Southeast Asian data centers. US officials had raised concerns about the arrangement.
Some observers suggest Chinese tech giants might still rent AI computing power in countries like Finland or the United Arab Emirates, but they risk wasting time and effort if Washington extends its curbs to those locations. Another option is to stack slower domestic chips into high-performance clusters, but that approach consumes far more electricity, making it less viable at scale.
Megaspeed and the smuggling network
The scandal surrounding Alice Huang has drawn attention to Megaspeed International and its alleged role in smuggling advanced chips into China. The New York Times reported that Megaspeed's Malaysian subsidiary, Speedmatrix, bought at least $4.8 billion of AI equipment, including Nvidia systems, between June 2024 and February 2026. The Information said that a network tied to Alice Huang and her sister, Huang Yu, acquired $7.5 billion of Nvidia chips and moved about 240,000 restricted ones into China.
The US Justice Department is investigating whether entities linked to Alice Huang were involved in efforts to smuggle Super Micro products into China, according to Bloomberg. This is the first time US authorities have linked Megaspeed and Super Micro.
Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) disclosed its own investigations on Thursday. In February 2025, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and Singapore Customs opened an investigation into Megaspeed and several other firms. On June 24, the SPF interviewed Alice Huang, then Megaspeed's chief executive, and impounded her passport. Huang was not investigated for espionage. In February 2026, the SPF and the Attorney-General's Chambers found insufficient evidence that Huang had committed offenses, but gave her a stern warning for providing inaccurate information to downplay her role in Megaspeed. On February 26, the SPF returned her passport. She left Singapore the same day and was barred from re-entering.
The MHA said its investigation into Megaspeed and six other individuals is ongoing, including whether servers exported through Singapore to Malaysia were later diverted elsewhere. It added that it is still seeking help from US authorities over server supplier Supermicro, which had given limited cooperation.
Tan Yong Pong, a Singaporean businessman who acquired Megaspeed from Alice Huang in November 2023, said in a statement that the company takes its compliance obligations under US export control laws extremely seriously. "Megaspeed has cooperated with inspections by the US Department of Commerce's BIS and stands ready to cooperate fully with any other relevant US government authority," he said.
Huang's exit comes at a sensitive time, days before US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet. The combination of the Nvidia leadership crisis and the tightening US export regime could have far-reaching implications for China's AI ambitions, as well as for the broader Indo-Pacific tech ecosystem. For now, Chinese tech giants face a precarious future in securing the computing power they need to compete globally.
