Chinese AI firms rush to rent Nvidia capacity abroad as Huang scandal stirs fear of tighter US curbs

Chinese artificial intelligence companies are trying to rent Nvidia-powered computing capacity at data centres outside China, concerned that a scandal involving the US chipmaker's chief executive Jensen Huang could spur Washington to tighten restrictions on their remote use of advanced processors, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters on November 12.

Remote rental as an export-control gap

Washington restricts exports to China of Nvidia's most advanced AI chips, but Chinese companies can access such processors remotely by renting computing power at data centres overseas. A major Chinese cloud provider has discussed internally whether to lock in overseas Nvidia chip capacity, while some companies have contacted data-centre operators about reserving it, the people said. Smaller AI labs are considering similar steps, including approaching major providers of rented computing power in Southeast Asia.

The RASA bill in focus

The companies fear the controversy could add political momentum to the Remote Access Security Act, or RASA, a US bill that would give the Commerce Department authority to regulate remote, cloud-based access to restricted technology. The House of Representatives passed the bill in January by a 369-22 vote, and it awaits Senate action. Restricting overseas cloud access would make it harder for Chinese developers to obtain high-end computing power without importing the chips directly.

Grey-market stockpiling and smuggling crackdown

The prospect of tougher enforcement has also fuelled demand for restricted Nvidia AI chips in China's grey market, prompting traders and intermediaries to start stockpiling these processors, two of the people said, fearing the controversy could prompt a broader US crackdown on smuggling of advanced chips and AI servers into China. Procurement records show a Chinese university with deep ties to the People's Liberation Army bought Nvidia's powerful H200 AI chips last month despite being on a US export blacklist. US prosecutors in March charged Super Micro Computer co-founder Yih-Shyan "Wally" Liaw and two others with conspiring to divert servers containing Nvidia chips to China through a Southeast Asia-based company; the servers were worth about $2.5 billion, and the defendants have not been convicted.

Background to the controversy

Huang said on Sunday that he had been unfaithful to his wife. The New York Times reported that the woman involved was Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based cloud-computing company Megaspeed, and that US authorities had concluded she was a Chinese intelligence asset. Reuters said it could not independently verify that allegation, which China has denied. Alice Huang had business dealings and investment ties with several leading Chinese technology companies, including Tencent and Alibaba, according to two people familiar with the matter. Singapore business filings show that Alibaba subsidiary Apex Enterprise Solutions provided financing to Speedmatrix, a Malaysian company linked to Megaspeed. Megaspeed has faced scrutiny over suspicions that it helped Chinese customers gain access to advanced Nvidia chips subject to US export controls; the company has denied illegally diverting chips to China. Nvidia, Megaspeed and the US Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Source: Reuters exclusive, November 12, 2026.