Report says U.S. Commerce Department withdrew chip smuggling investigation into Jensen Huang's partner's company after Nvidia intervened

According to a New York Times report, the U.S. Commerce Department, after Nvidia intervened, dropped its AI chip smuggling investigation into Megaspeed, a company run by Alice Huang, partner of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, which was suspected of smuggling Nvidia chips to China; the case was subsequently referred to the U.S. Department of Justice. The report said the U.S. intelligence community believes Alice Huang is a Chinese spy, and Jensen Huang admitted on Sunday that he had an extramarital affair with her. In 2024, the intelligence community opened an investigation because Megaspeed imported billions of dollars of advanced Nvidia AI chips into Malaysia and built data centers in Asia for Chinese customers such as Alibaba. Trump on Monday defended Jensen Huang, saying he was unaware, and said the FBI is investigating. Nvidia's stock fell 4.27% to $178.67 after Jensen Huang admitted the affair and the board announced an investigation.