We tracked Nvidia H200 chips to a blacklisted Chinese buyer

Plato recounts how. these appear to be. some of the most coveted. American designed. computer chips in the world, and this video. circulating on Chinese. social media. may show workers modifying them, turning gaming graphics. cards into hardware. for training artificial intelligence. Horner jokingly said, you don't have to. machine. CNN cannot independently. verify this footage, but it reveals a much larger problem. facing Washington.

Despite years of export restrictions, Advanced America. and chip. technology keeps. finding its way into China's AI industry. The power of the world's. between the two great powers, China. and the US will be decided. more through technological power. than brute force. and semiconductors. At the heart of Taipei based technology. journalist Tim. Culp, and has covered Taiwan's. chip industry for decades. He says the stakes. now are higher than ever. So you think these chips are.

just as important. as nuclear weapons for a country? Yes. I think. leading edge chips. are now the nuclear weapons of our age. Few people have. more influence over. who gets those chips than Jensen Huang, the Nvidia CEO has become the face of the. AI boom. and a powerful advocate. for selling American technology to China. Mr. president, with a direct line. to the white House. and President Donald Trump. Now CNN has learned U.S. intelligence officials suspected. Huang was being targeted.

by a foreign intelligence operation. This is their specialty. And the woman. at the center of those concerns, Alice Wong, no relation, had ties to Mega Speed, a company buying more than $4 billion. in Nvidia chips. Technically, a lot of these Chinese companies. aren't allowed to buy US chips. Nvidia chips, but they can easily. get access to those chips. if you just put them in a data center. in Malaysia. New York Times reporter Paul Mozer. spent more than a year. investigating Mega Speed, one of the company's supplying. that computing power, registered in Singapore.

operating data centers in Southeast. Asia and linked to businesses. serving Chinese customers. The arrangement exposes a loophole. in Washington's restrictions. So China is getting the. AI computing power of U.S. firms, right, just just outside of China. It is incredibly hard to look at this. and not see a Chinese state. sponsored network for bypassing U.S. export controlled networks. Trade data. investigator William George. has been tracking another route. chip shipments. passing through Southeast. Asia before reaching China.

This is a pipeline. that is developed that benefits. from the fact that there is minimal. scrutiny on U.S. air data. that you can bring things into Singapore, Malaysia, Central and Southeast Asia. and then move those goods, sometimes through Thailand, into China. In some cases, China doesn't even bother hiding it. We found this procurement record. published by Northwestern Poly Technical. University in Shaanxi province. Two Nvidia. 200 and AI chips, total price $131,000.

And the buyer has been on a U.S. export blacklist since 2001. It's not clear why they bought the chips, but just look at the university's. own promotional video. featuring missiles and military aircraft. President Trump approved some 200 exports. to China last year, but that did not lift restrictions. on this university. The Pentagon identifies it. as one of China's seven. sons of national defense. universities, closely. tied to the People's Liberation Army.

The university has not responded. to CNN's request for comment. Huang has argued China's. military is unlikely. to depend on American chips. We don't have to worry about that. because the Chinese military. no different. The American military. will not seek each other's technology. out to be built on top of it. They simply can't rely on it. That position puts Huang at odds. with many U.S. national security officials. And now there's growing. concern about. what he might have divulged. about Washington's chip. policy, influenced by someone.

whispering in his ear. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei. Fascinating piece there. from our Will Ripley. There's more perspective. now on the fallout. for Nvidia in this story. from Lance Ulanoff, the editor at large of Tech Raider. Lance, great to have you on the show. Look, we. we saw the share price today. take quite a beating. I think it's off somewhat. The last time I looked, I think it was down. 5%, but it did fall something. like 14% earlier today.

Now that the news is landed. and kind of the dust is settling, or maybe it hasn't settled. What is kind of. the short. term fallout here. as we look at the share price. now down 6%. Just give us your perspective. Well, you know this fast action. by honestly. Jensen Huang and the board. Nvidia's board. It's probably helped. Stem a a much bigger drop, a. collapse of the AI bubble, which is what. a lot of people are afraid of. because they had to do something beat.

this whole scandal was snowballing. because obviously it's. not just the potential of him. sharing information. with a possible alleged Chinese spy. But then there was. news of a possible relationship. within the company with another employee. So, you know, things were getting. felt like they were getting out of hand. and they really needed to have an answer. And so they did. It's a it is a honestly, it feels like, you know, they've cut off the head. because he is Jensen Huang is Nvidia.

That's how it's felt for 30 years. and especially in the last five years. So it's hard to say. exactly what things are going. to look like going forward. But I think it'll be different. But at least in the short. term, maybe it'll calm down a bit. Yeah. Look, I was speaking to our tech reporter. and to the top of the show, and she was telling me. that Nvidia earnings, I think, I believe. are out next week. Lands. And I just wonder, you know, everyone. I'm sure. be watching closely in terms. of giving guidance for the company. But overall it is.

There is no denying as you frame. data 33 years in charge of Nvidia, there's no denying of the, how much Nvidia has kind of powered this. AI boom. And has been, I think, also a major, growth. for the United States. Right. A source of growth engine of U.S. economic growth. What impact. does that have, for example, on the US. economy, depending, of course, who takes over next? I mean, nothing is, you know, there's a lot of momentum. behind the video.

You know, it. It's chips. It's AI chips. I mean, like 92% of the data centers. around the world, you know, they own. that much of the market. And there is constant demand for that. just because they're the best AI chips. It appears that you can get. So nobody wants anything else. So that business is going to remain. It's a question, you know, a business is run. through many different parts. Right. And one of the benefits. of what Jensen was in there. is that you get a flat structure.

And everybody reported to him, and you really kind of kept. things under control. and made very fast decisions. So the key is. can I video continue to do that? Because that engine, in order. for it to keep running. and benefiting the US economy. and maybe the global economy, that has to continue on. for however. you may feel about AI right now, it is an incredible engine of of commerce. and technology that, most people really wanted. to see it keep going.

Look, let's talk. then about the kind of. national security perspective, because there's so many questions. and so many concerns. I think it's fair to say. from so many United States, what concerns you have, I mean, whether the US. could be compromised here, where are we if, you know, in the on the investigation front? Well, you know, look, I, I tried to like step. I wrote something this morning. where I tried to really separate, you know, because. Yeah. An affair. I'm not really interested in the affair. What I'm interested in.

is having a relationship. with somebody. who is, you know, with a company. that, you know, has some Chinese interest. Right. And at the same time, in 2025, Jensen. Huang is talking to the white House. and saying, change your policy. Allow me to continue. to sell chips into China. While he. is potentially either in a relationship. or the close partnership. with Alice Huang. That is the really big writing concern. for me, because we just don't understand. exactly what he told her. We don't understand who she really is.

The FBI is investigating that, and I can guarantee you. that Congress is going to call Jensen. before them to explain. exactly what he did, and didn't say how he made. his decisions in that time. So he will have a lot to answer for. And hopefully we can unpack all of this. Yeah, but the speed of it, you know, I time things move really fast. We may never learn the full story. Yeah, yeah. And look, my colleague. Will Ripley in that brilliant report. was talking about the Singapore. Mega Speed ride, the Singapore based company,

that that is under scrutiny. for potential chip smuggling. Now, Jensen Huang has agreed. You're quite right to to brief lawmakers. on his interaction. with the former executive. with Alice Wong, who I found out. today, CNN just found out today. has been barred. from reentering the company. I mean, what concerns you have there? Because Meg Speed. is also being investigated in Singapore. So I have questions in terms of how. when did the US know. when members of the US. organization. administration knew about this?

Yeah, that is an excellent question. because it changes all the time. The answer to that question changes. all the time. We don't know. You know, like I well, what I. he acts like he didn't know. But then he said. he actually said something. about her possibly being a spy, which indicated. that he had. at least been briefed in some fashion. But right up until today, I mean, he didn't say, you know, I'm concerned about what I've heard. Instead, he said Jensen did a great job. But by the way, let's now just bring on. Tim Cook to be the CEO of Nvidia. So, you know, there's no clarity.

There's no transparency. from that side to understand. who knew what and when and how and where. Yeah, the huge questions. there are obviously over security. but also national secure. but also corporate governance at large. I really appreciate it. Lance, thank you very much. for coming on the show. that Lance Ulanoff that the editor. at large of Tech Reader, thank you. The current Nvidia CFO, she'll carry on doing that job. and she'll also take on the interim. CEO job. while they look for a replacement. So investors.

will have to think about that. There wasn't a huge amount. of market contagion. through the tech sector today. The stocks. that we saw impacted, some stocks. who are very reliant on Nvidia, either as suppliers. or customers. saw a bit of a fall. and some at, some sort of increase. in share prices of companies. who rival it, like AMD, another. semiconductor company in the US. had some people seeing. that the misfortunes of Nvidia. could be good news. for some of its rivals. So that was some of the stock. market impact. I think there's another, though.

economic fallout to consider, which is at the heart of this. It's not just two. Extramarital affairs is a corporate. governance issue at Nvidia. Clearly, the CEO having two affairs, one with a major customer, a major customer, which is a huge conflict. And also, of course, she's alleged to be a Chinese spy. And then this other reported affair. with an employee at the company, another big, corporate governance issues. Now, on top of that, there's a national security issue. of the alleged Chinese spy. And what could the backlash be. in the US, particularly. with a Democrat like Congress?

Could we see a crackdown. in terms of export controls? Could we see more. AI regulation in the future. that could spell bad news, not just for Nvidia, but for other companies. in the sector as well? Yeah, indeed. Though President Trump, from what I saw on Truth Social today, he didn't really go there. or focused on that. He did react on that to one's departure. And he's suggesting replacement, I think Tim Cook of Apple. saying a legend replaces the legend. I mean, there was no mention. of investigation questions. He has national security,

corporate governance, none of this. I mean, how likely, first of all, is this to happen to Tim Cook of Apple. taking over? Well, you know what, I slightly wonder, Isa, whether President Trump. was reading the same tech. analysts note from, Dan Ives Wedbush Analyst and veteran. analyst in the tech sector, because he actually suggested. Tim Cook this morning. as a dark horse candidate for this job. It is a dark horse candidate. Who knows? Does Tim Cook even want to go back. into running a massive company? There are some other names out there.

There are some within the company. within Nvidia. They said they're looking internally. and externally. Some people are looking. at other companies like ARM Holdings, for instance, a semiconductor. design company. Could they try and poach the CEO. from there? Lots of names. about there's earnings. for Nvidia on Tuesday next week. Everyone will be hoping. there's more to talk about that. perhaps they've had a little. think about this by then. But I'm not sure. That's not much. time, is it, to find a new CEO? It is not Anna. And big questions, of course.

Still, still to be answered. on the investigation front. Appreciate on the Stewart there for us.