In an era when the AI industry is driven by global giants, many businesses rely on Nvidia products if they do not want to be like Nvidia itself. For over three years, since Joe Biden was US president, export restrictions on chips to other countries worldwide have tightened significantly.
With Donald Trump’s second term, export restrictions have increasingly targeted Chinese businesses. Recently, Bloomberg reported that a Singaporean company is under close watch.Bloombergreported that a company from Singapore is under scrutiny. "Megaspeed International Pte." Founded less than three years ago, this company has become the largest buyer of Nvidia chips in Southeast Asia, topping the list.
Megaspeed’s rapid growth has led some to view it as a new regional champion in AI Cloud Computing. However, it has also drawn suspicion of involvement in smuggling advanced semiconductor chips into China, despite Nvidia’s repeated statements that no evidence of diversion or smuggling has been found.
Megaspeed is a Singapore-registered company classified by Bloomberg as a Neocloud provider specializing in high-performance computing rentals for AI workloads. It operates multiple Data Centers in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Malaysia.
Megaspeed also rents Nvidia chips to key clients, including Alibaba Group, which is also under US security scrutiny.
Under US rules, renting AI chips to Chinese companies for use outside China remains permitted. Nvidia views this as part of a strategy to maintain US AI leadership, though some security officials and politicians see it as a loophole that should be closed.
Since its founding in 2023 through November of this year, Megaspeed has imported at least $4.6 billion worth of Nvidia chips—around 136,000 units—according to customs data from Malaysia and Indonesia. More than half were Blackwell series chips, the latest generation banned from export to China by the US government.
Megaspeed is a spin-off subsidiary from "7Road Holdings Ltd.", a major Chinese gaming company, just five months after the US imposed chip controls during Biden’s administration. Initially, 7Road sold its Singapore subsidiary to a British Virgin Islands entity called "Huang Le Ltd.", controlled by Huang Le, Megaspeed’s founder.
In November 2023, Huang Le Ltd. sold Megaspeed to a Singaporean shell company owned by Tan Yong Pong, a Singaporean who is now Megaspeed’s CEO. Four days after the ownership change, Megaspeed was officially appointed as an Nvidia Cloud Partner.
At the end of 2023, the company held only $5.7 million in cash. Despite limited cash, Megaspeed imported Nvidia equipment worth many thousands of times its cash on hand, without explaining the source of funding for these massive chip purchases.
Bloomberg revealed that the US government is investigating Megaspeed’s ownership structure and the possibility that it may be involved in smuggling Nvidia chips into China. If true, this would violate US export controls designed to limit China’s AI and military capabilities.
At the same time, the Singapore government confirmed it is examining whether Megaspeed has violated local laws, though it did not specify which laws. Malaysia, where Megaspeed’s main Data Centers and operations are located, said it is continuously monitoring regulatory compliance but declined to elaborate on the investigation’s scope.
Megaspeed has denied all allegations, asserting it operates strictly within the law. In a statement via email, the company said, “Megaspeed is a Singapore-based company complying with the laws of all relevant countries, including US export controls.” It declined further comment and referred inquiries to Nvidia.
Nvidia stated that its internal investigations found no evidence of chip diversion and confirmed Megaspeed is fully owned and operated outside China, with no Chinese shareholders. Nvidia emphasized that Megaspeed’s cloud services are authorized under export control regulations.
Nvidia reported conducting multiple inspections of Megaspeed’s Data Centers and confirmed all chips are accounted for on-site. Bloomberg also reported no clear evidence of illegal chip transfers to China. However, based on trade documents, company data, and interviews across several countries, discrepancies were found between the number of imported chips and the actual Data Center infrastructure.
If it is proven that Megaspeed’s chips entered China without US approval, or if the company is found to be a Chinese entity rather than truly Singaporean, it could impact future US export control policies—especially amid the ongoing AI competition between the two superpowers.
Following Bloomberg’s investigative report, Megaspeed issued a statement denying any involvement in illegal chip deliveries and said the Bloomberg article could cause misunderstandings.
Source:Bloomberg
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