DOJ Probes Whether Alice Huang Helped Smuggle Super Micro AI Servers to China

The US Justice Department is investigating whether entities linked to Alice Huang, the woman US officials suspect may have targeted former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, were involved in efforts to smuggle products made by Super Micro Computer to China, according to Bloomberg News.

The previously unreported scrutiny is being led by the US attorney's office in Manhattan, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. It remains unclear whether the new line of inquiry is connected to any of the chip smuggling cases prosecutors have already brought in the United States or Asia, and Justice Department investigations can end without any charges being filed.

Photo: a data centre server hall — representative image.

A second smuggling inquiry, separate from Megaspeed

The investigation adds a new strand to a scandal that has already shaken Nvidia and the wider artificial intelligence industry. The Justice Department is already spearheading a separate investigation into Megaspeed International, Huang's former company, over suspected semiconductor smuggling. Megaspeed has denied any wrongdoing.

Super Micro, the San Jose-based server maker and a major Nvidia partner, was not named as a defendant, and the company has said it is cooperating with the investigation. Super Micro declined to comment on the prosecutors' scrutiny of Huang before publication, but told Bloomberg it has "been responsive to inquiries and has fully cooperated with US and Taiwanese officials, while also voluntarily providing information and engaging with all requests from Singapore authorities to date."

The company also pushed back on any suggestion of a commercial link between the two firms at the centre of the affair. "Megaspeed is not, and has never been, a Super Micro customer," Super Micro said, adding that it "maintains a robust compliance programme and continues to work closely with authorities and industry partners to combat diversion and help protect American innovation."

Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the Manhattan US attorney's office also declined to comment. It was not immediately clear what potential role Huang, or entities connected to her, could have played in smuggling Super Micro products into China.

The March case: servers, a Bangkok intermediary and $2.5 billion

The most prominent case already brought by prosecutors involves Super Micro co-founder Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw, who was charged in March along with two others by Manhattan federal prosecutors over an alleged conspiracy to send Nvidia-powered servers to an unnamed South-east Asian company and then divert them to Chinese customers.

Bloomberg has reported that the unnamed company referenced in the March indictment was Bangkok-based Obon, an AI infrastructure firm. Obon has not responded to requests for comment. According to US prosecutors, two unidentified third-party brokers were also involved in diverting the servers to China. Reporting on the case has put the value of the servers at about $2.5 billion.

Liaw, who has pleaded not guilty, is no longer at the company. Super Micro chief executive Charles Liang said in a public letter to stakeholders in March that the company had "taken action against all identified employees and those parties no longer have any relationship with Super Micro," and that "Wally Liaw has also resigned from the company's board of directors."

Super Micro said in August, following an independent probe, that its current senior management had no knowledge of the alleged scheme.

Who is Alice Huang — and what the Justice Department has said

Alice Huang, 49, also known as Huang Le, is currently living in Beijing with the knowledge of security officials, Bloomberg reported, and attempts to reach her were unsuccessful. She was in former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang's orbit through Megaspeed, the largest buyer of Nvidia's chips in South-east Asia, Bloomberg has reported.

The Justice Department is conducting an espionage probe that includes looking at her relationship with Jensen Huang, the person familiar with the effort said. But no conclusions have been reached by the Justice Department around "who she is or is not" regarding whether Alice Huang acted as a Chinese spy, Attorney-General Todd Blanche said on Thursday, November 12.

China has rejected the spying allegations as a "smear". Jensen Huang is not a target of probes by US law enforcement, according to the person familiar with the matter, and Jensen and Alice Huang are not related.

Why this matters

The widening scrutiny shows how the fallout from Jensen Huang's disclosure on Sunday, November 9, that he had an extramarital affair has spread far beyond Nvidia's boardroom. The admission plunged the world's most valuable chipmaker into an unprecedented crisis, fuelled a sharp sell-off in its shares and ultimately led to his ouster as chief executive on Thursday, November 12. Colette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer, is now interim chief executive.

The Super Micro angle also underlines a broader enforcement problem facing Washington: the hardware at the heart of the AI boom — Nvidia-powered servers — is the same hardware US export controls are meant to keep out of China, and prosecutors are now tracing diversion routes through several countries and intermediaries at once.

For now, the new inquiry is only that — an inquiry. No charges have been filed against Alice Huang or any entity linked to her in connection with Super Micro products, and the Justice Department has not said whether the probe will lead anywhere. But with a separate Singapore prosecution over AI server fraud now reaching a fifth charge and the Megaspeed investigation still open, the legal pressure around the networks that moved Nvidia hardware into China is clearly still building.

Read more on Innopark IT: Banned Nvidia AI chips found at Shanghai data centre in Alice Huang case and Nvidia fallout throws spotlight on Southeast Asia's AI boom.

Sources

• The Business Times (Bloomberg News) — "US probes if Alice Huang helped smuggle Super Micro products", November 13, 2026
• Times of India — "After Nvidia chips, Super Micro servers? DOJ probes Alice Huang over alleged shipments to China", November 13, 2026
• New York Post — "Chinese 'spy' Alice Huang at center of DOJ probe into another alleged Nvidia smuggling scheme", November 12, 2026
• jbiznews — "Before Megaspeed, there was Supermicro: The other Nvidia partner tied to China chip smuggling — and to Jensen Huang", November 12, 2026