--- title: The US Department of Commerce Never Blacklisted Megaspeed, and House Democrats Want Lutnick to Say What His Officials Knew description: Nvidia's lawyer told Megaspeed investigators an under secretary approved his contact. The case is now a DOJ criminal inquiry, and Democrats want answers. author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief) date: 2026-11-10T11:40:36.786Z updated: 2026-11-10T11:43:54.728Z canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/commerce-department-megaspeed-lutnick image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/us-department-of-commerce-hoover-building.webp categories: Artificial Intelligence content_type: News region: United States publication: Sovereign Magazine about: - type: Organization name: Nvidia - type: Organization name: Megaspeed description: Megaspeed is a Singapore-based AI computing company and Nvidia customer that took its current name in 2023, when the Chinese gaming and cloud company 7Road split off its overseas operation. industry: Cloud computing --- The US Department of Commerce paused its export-control investigation into Megaspeed when the Justice Department asked it to, and it has never added the company to its trade blacklist, although other agencies have proposed adding it, The New York Times reported on Monday. In August 2025, Nvidia's general counsel emailed the agents on the case to say that Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler had allowed Nvidia to contact them. The investigation has since become a Justice Department criminal inquiry. Megaspeed is based in Singapore, and its Malaysian sister company spent at least $4.8 billion on AI equipment with Nvidia chips inside from June 2024 to February 2026. A classified US memo identifies Alice Huang, who has worked as an executive at Megaspeed, as a recruit of China's Ministry of State Security and says she had a romantic relationship with Nvidia's chief executive, Jensen Huang, the Times and the Financial Times have reported. Separately, in a letter dated 9 November, three House Democrats called on the department to halt exports of advanced AI chips to China immediately and asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick whether he, Kessler or other senior officials knew of the intelligence on Alice Huang. They want written answers by 1 December. ## Nvidia's Top Lawyer Cited Kessler's Permission When He Contacted the Megaspeed Investigators Tim Teter, Nvidia's general counsel, sent the email to the agents investigating Megaspeed at the Bureau of Industry and Security, the department's export-control arm. He wrote that Kessler, who runs the bureau and reports directly to Lutnick, "had given Nvidia permission to reach out about the case". The agents turned down a meeting and forwarded the email to Kessler. Kessler replied within hours, telling staff to handle the case "strictly by the book", a department official told the Times. Some agents were alarmed that Nvidia had used Kessler's name, and some officials worried that the contact could taint the case. The department official said Kessler did not direct staff to share information with Nvidia. According to the same official, Teter said after the refusal that he was unsure what the issue was, since Kessler had told Nvidia it could communicate with the bureau. Kessler did not respond to requests for comment. Nvidia has said Teter did not know of Huang's relationship with Alice Huang. John Rizzo, an Nvidia spokesman, said the company consults officials "to answer their questions, provide information we have gathered from the field, request their guidance and instructions". ## Megaspeed Is Now the Subject of a Justice Department Criminal Inquiry Two law enforcement sources told CBS News on Monday that the Justice Department's National Security Division is investigating Megaspeed over potential violations of US export restrictions on advanced AI chips. A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency does not comment on continuing investigations. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had asked Huang, "Did you have any idea that she was a spy?", and that Huang replied, "I had no idea that she was a spy." "I really believe him," Trump said, adding, "I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he'll be in good shape." Megaspeed has said it was inspected by the bureau, by Malaysia's trade ministry and by Nvidia, and that none of them found any sign of illegal activity. In Singapore, where Megaspeed is based, police said on 30 October that "investigations into Megaspeed are ongoing". ## Megaspeed Has Never Been Put on the Department's Trade Blacklist The department has not added any company to the Entity List, its trade blacklist, in more than a year, the Times reported. Thomas Wackman, a spokesperson for the bureau, said, "BIS conducts all enforcement strictly by the book." The bureau began investigating Megaspeed in late 2024, when department officials visiting its data center in Malaysia found Nvidia equipment still in boxes. In October 2025 Senator Tom Cotton wrote to Lutnick asking the department to investigate the company. When his bureau [moved to case-by-case review of H200 sales to China](https://www.bis.gov/press-release/department-commerce-revises-license-review-policy-semiconductors-exported-china) in January, Kessler said, "Permitting the sale of the H200 to China under controlled conditions will strengthen the American technology ecosystem." The department has since [approved roughly two dozen Chinese buyers and handlers of the chip](https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/nvidia-jensen-huang-investigation), two of them with empty offices. ## House Democrats Ask Lutnick Whether He or Kessler Knew of the Intelligence on Alice Huang > "National security must come before corporate sales targets." > — Representatives Gregory Meeks, Gabe Amo and Sydney Kamlager-Dove In their [letter to Lutnick](https://democrats-foreignaffairs.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/letter-to-commerce-on-ai-chip-export-to-chinafinal.pdf), copied to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Representatives Gregory Meeks, Gabe Amo and Sydney Kamlager-Dove ask the department to "immediately halt exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips" to China. They cite reports on the intelligence about Alice Huang and on the H200 licenses, including the Times finding that there was "little evidence" that New Matrix, one of the licensed companies, "actually exists". They wrote that "the American people must have transparency into what your Department knew, when it knew it, and why it continued to permit these exports." Their first question is whether Lutnick, Kessler or other senior officials at the department and the bureau were aware of intelligence linking Alice Huang and Megaspeed to Chinese efforts to obtain advanced Nvidia chips, and they want the date, participants and substance of each briefing. They also ask whether any of those officials discussed Alice Huang or Megaspeed with Rubio or his staff, whether the intelligence community or another federal agency recommended that the department investigate, suspend or restrict exports to Megaspeed, and whether the bureau has approved exports of Nvidia's Blackwell chips or other advanced AI chips to Megaspeed or its affiliates. They want to know what checks the bureau ran on New Matrix. ## Republicans and Democrats in Congress Want the Huang Reports Investigated Senator Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, want an investigation into the reports about Huang. In a joint statement on Monday they said the news "makes these national security concerns even more urgent and raises important questions NVIDIA must answer". They also said, "It is time for Congress to take decisive action to pass key bills like the AI Overwatch Act." The bill would let Congress review licenses to sell advanced AI chips to China. Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said Huang should be broadly investigated and that Congress should "absolutely" have a role. John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House Select Committee on China and one of three committee chairs who have asked Huang to a closed-door briefing on 18 November, said Nvidia has "credibility issues". Representative Seth Magaziner, a Rhode Island Democrat, wants Lutnick to testify before Congress with Huang. Lutnick's answers to Meeks, Amo and Kamlager-Dove are due on 1 December. Their party won control of both the House and the Senate in the 3 November midterms and takes over in January. ## FAQ **Q: What is the US Department of Commerce's Entity List?** The Entity List is the department's trade blacklist. Wise Road, a Chinese private equity firm, has been on it since 2024, and the two main owners of New Matrix, one of the companies licensed to handle H200s, are tied to companies connected to Wise Road. Megaspeed is not on the list. Other agencies proposed adding it, and the department has not added any company to the list in more than a year, the New York Times reported. **Q: Who runs the Bureau of Industry and Security?** Jeffrey Kessler, the Under Secretary for Industry and Security, runs the bureau, which is the US Department of Commerce's export-control arm, and he reports directly to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. His bureau set the case-by-case review of H200 sales to China in January. The New York Times reported that Nvidia's general counsel told the bureau's agents in August 2025 that Kessler had approved his contact about the Megaspeed case, and that Kessler told staff to handle it "strictly by the book". A department official says Kessler did not direct staff to share information with Nvidia. In their letter, the three House Democrats ask whether he knew of the intelligence on Alice Huang. **Q: Who is Nvidia's lawyer?** Tim Teter is Nvidia's general counsel. The New York Times reported that in August 2025 he emailed the bureau's agents investigating Megaspeed, writing that Kessler had given Nvidia permission to contact them, and that the agents turned down a meeting and sent the email to Kessler. Nvidia has said Teter did not know of Huang's relationship with Alice Huang. The company says it consults officials to answer their questions, pass on what it learns in the field and ask for guidance.