A new investigation has uncovered how US-restricted Nvidia AI chips ended up at a major data center in Shanghai through a network of companies connected to Alice Huang, the Chinese businesswoman at the center of the scandal involving former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
According to a Bloomberg investigation published on November 13, a Chinese company founded by Alice Huang obtained advanced Nvidia chips that had been banned from export to China. The chips were installed at the Tencent Yangtze River Delta Advanced AI Computing Center and Industrial Park in Shanghai.
The massive facility has close business ties to Alice Huang, her husband Kang Wei, her younger sister Huang Yu, and Megaspeed International, the Singapore-based AI infrastructure company associated with Huang.
The findings raise new questions about how China continues to gain access to advanced American AI technology despite US export restrictions.
193 Servers Worth $73 Million
One of the most important findings came from an unexpected source: Chinese government financing records.
In January 2025, a subsidiary of Shanghai Longteng Intelligent Computing, a company founded by Alice Huang about a decade ago, used 193 servers installed in Shanghai as collateral for financing.
The equipment was valued at 485 million yuan, approximately $73 million.
According to documents reviewed by Bloomberg, the servers included:
- 22 Dell servers equipped with Nvidia H800 chips.
- 52 Super Micro servers containing Nvidia H100 or H200 chips.
- 119 Gigabyte servers, whose specific chip models were not identified.
The United States banned exports of Nvidia's H800 chips to China in 2023. The H100 and H200 models are also subject to strict US export controls and cannot be sold to Chinese companies without the required licenses.
The records were discovered through China's official movable-property financing registration system, maintained by the Credit Reference Center of the People's Bank of China.
Chinese companies are required to register certain financing arrangements involving equipment used as collateral.
In this case, those records provided detailed information about advanced American computing hardware that had reached Shanghai.
How the Servers Traveled From Singapore to Shanghai
Bloomberg also identified a route through which some of the restricted hardware reached China.
The 22 Dell servers were originally purchased by Aperia Cloud Services, a Singapore-based company that had been an official Nvidia Cloud Partner.
However, instead of remaining in Singapore, the servers eventually ended up with a Chinese company founded by Alice Huang and were installed at the Shanghai AI facility.
Bloomberg checked the server serial numbers with a person familiar with the transactions, who confirmed that Aperia had been Dell's customer.
In February 2025, Singapore authorities arrested Aperia's CEO on charges related to defrauding server suppliers. He pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Dell said it had stopped all sales and support services to Aperia in February 2025 because of concerns about unauthorized diversion of its products.
Super Micro, whose servers were also found in Shanghai, told Bloomberg that it had not sold Nvidia chips to Chinese companies connected to the data center and had no relationship with the facility.
The company maintained that its confirmed server sales complied with applicable US export regulations.
Alice Huang's Sister Controlled the Chinese Company
The ownership history of Shanghai Longteng reveals another important connection.
Alice Huang founded the company in 2016 but gave up her shares in 2017.
Her younger sister, Huang Yu, subsequently became a major shareholder.
According to Chinese corporate registration records, Huang Yu continued to hold a majority stake until January 2026.
That means she controlled the company during the period when the restricted servers were installed in Shanghai and used as collateral for financing.
The documents do not establish whether Alice Huang personally arranged the purchases. However, they reveal how companies founded or controlled by members of her family became connected to restricted American AI hardware.
Her Husband's Connection to the Shanghai Data Center
Another key figure is Kang Wei, Alice Huang's husband and a Chinese investment businessman who founded Shanghai Hexi Investment after leaving the mutual fund industry in 2010.
Kang has been involved in investment deals, gaming companies, internet infrastructure, and data center businesses.
Although he generally keeps a low public profile, he appeared prominently during an official visit to the Shanghai AI facility in March 2025.
Wang Huajie, the Chinese Communist Party secretary of Shanghai's Songjiang District, visited the Tencent Yangtze River Delta AI center that month.
Local television footage showed Kang accompanying Wang during the inspection and sitting directly across from him during a meeting.
The appearance provided a rare public glimpse of Kang's role in the major computing project.
The data center itself had received unusually rapid approval.
According to public records, the project agreement was signed on March 31, 2020. Just 58 days later, on May 27, the project secured its land-use rights. A construction permit followed only three days afterward.
The project involved an industrial land parcel covering approximately 157,176 square meters, or nearly 39 acres.
The land was sold for 237 million yuan, approximately $36 million, to Shanghai Longrui Information Technology, a company linked through corporate ownership and investment relationships to Kang Wei.
Another important connection involves 7Road International, a Singapore company originally established by Chinese gaming business 7Road.
In March 2023, that company was transferred to Alice Huang and subsequently renamed Megaspeed International.
The network connects Chinese investment firms, offshore companies, family-controlled businesses, and a major AI computing facility in Shanghai.
Megaspeed Presented the Shanghai Center as Its Own Major AI Facility
The connection between Megaspeed and the Shanghai project goes beyond corporate ownership.
According to Bloomberg, Alice Huang used a rendering of the Yangtze River Delta data center in a 2024 presentation to investors.
She presented the Shanghai facility as Megaspeed's largest AI project.
This is significant because Megaspeed has been operating in Southeast Asia while facing scrutiny over whether its activities helped Chinese customers gain access to restricted American AI technology.
The newly revealed Shanghai records provide another link between the company's business network and advanced Nvidia computing hardware inside China.
Questions for US Export Controls
The investigation comes as American officials are increasingly concerned about advanced AI chips reaching China through third countries.
On November 13, Reuters also reported that Malaysian authorities were investigating whether chips imported by Speedmatrix, Megaspeed's Malaysian unit, had been re-exported.
The Malaysian investigation is separate from the Shanghai findings, and authorities have not established that the shipments were connected.
Still, both cases raise a similar question: How effectively can Washington enforce its technology restrictions when American-made chips are sold through multiple companies and jurisdictions?
The Shanghai case is particularly revealing because the servers were not merely offered for sale or discussed in business negotiations.
According to the documents reviewed by Bloomberg, they were already installed at a major Chinese AI computing facility and had been used as valuable financial assets.
The Chinese Communist Party has made advanced computing and artificial intelligence major national priorities, while US officials have sought to limit China's access to the most powerful American chips because of their potential military and intelligence uses.
The findings also add a new dimension to the controversy surrounding Alice Huang and Jensen Huang.
Questions about their personal relationship have attracted widespread attention. But the business records point to a larger national security issue involving Nvidia's most advanced technology, overseas suppliers, Chinese corporate networks, and a major computing center operating inside China.
The central question is no longer simply who Alice Huang is or how close she was to Jensen Huang.
It is how restricted American AI chips reached a major computing center in China, who arranged the transfers, and whether the companies involved knowingly helped bypass US export controls.
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