Chinese Firm Tied to Ex-Nvidia CEO's Partner Got Smuggled AI Chips
A Chinese company founded by Alice Huang, who had a romantic relationship with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, received smuggled AI chips that were installed in a data center in Shanghai, according to Bloomberg, citing documents. The equipment was initially sold to Aperia Cloud Services, an official Nvidia cloud computing partner based in Singapore, but ended up in the hands of Alice Huang's company. Aperia purchased 22 servers with Nvidia H800 chips from Dell Technologies, whose sale to China was restricted by Washington in 2023. Dell said it stopped all sales and support to Aperia in February 2025 over concerns about unauthorized equipment transfers. The documents do not specify how the company obtained the Nvidia chips or whether Huang personally participated in the operation. Nvidia's board announced on November 12 that Jensen Huang stepped down as president, CEO, and board member, following a scandal involving two extramarital affairs, one with Alice Huang, whom US intelligence alleges works for Chinese intelligence services.