Beyond the spy scandal: what the Nvidia-Megaspeed affair reveals about export controls

On the day Jensen Huang stepped down as Nvidia CEO, the Atlantic Council published an article saying the Nvidia-Megaspeed affair exposes the enforcement difficulties of US export controls and the limits of relying on private companies to protect critical technology. According to reports, Singapore-based company Megaspeed imported at least $4.6 billion of Nvidia technology between 2023 and 2025 and is suspected of transshipping restricted chips to China; its former executive Alice Huang is alleged to have been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security; Megaspeed denies wrongdoing, and no one has been charged. The article notes that the Trump administration rescinded the AI Diffusion Rule in 2025, that two draft licensing rules by the Commerce Department were never finalized, and that since 2026 H200 sales to China have proceeded under case-by-case licensing with the government taking 25%. The authors recommend that Congress advance the Chip Security Act and the Remote Access Security Act, hold enforcement hearings, and strengthen public-private counterintelligence cooperation.