Nvidia has faced fresh scrutiny from the U.S. Justice Department, with a report identifying an antitrust investigation into the chipmaker and two separate inquiries involving Megaspeed and Supermicro following Jensen Huang’s resignation.
Summary
- Three DOJ inquiries involve Nvidia and its business partners, according to Semafor’s reporting.
- Investigators have examined Alice Huang’s involvement in the Megaspeed and Supermicro matters.
- Supermicro has disclosed a grand jury subpoena covering its compliance program and internal controls.
- Senator Michael Bennet has requested answers about the Megaspeed investigation by Nov. 24.
Semafor reported on Nov. 12, citing two administration officials, that multiple Justice Department investigations could involve Nvidia as Washington responds to the departure of its longtime chief executive.
One inquiry focuses specifically on Nvidia’s business practices on antitrust grounds. Two others concern Megaspeed and Supermicro, with investigators examining the involvement of Alice Huang, the alleged Chinese intelligence operative with whom Jensen Huang admitted having an affair before resigning.
The report said there was no indication at the time that prosecutors intended to bring criminal charges against Nvidia or Jensen Huang. Nvidia and the Justice Department did not provide comment to the outlet, while Megaspeed and Supermicro did not immediately respond.
Nvidia’s antitrust scrutiny predates Huang’s departure
Reuters reported on Oct. 28 that Justice Department officials had been asking about Nvidia’s proposed $12.93 billion purchase of Hugging Face while continuing an investigation into the company’s conduct that began during the Biden administration.
According to two people familiar with the matter, officials were examining acquisitions, investments, sales practices and possible pressure on customers. Questions about Hugging Face included whether ownership of the platform would give Nvidia control over an important distribution point for artificial intelligence.
Nvidia had said the purchase was expected to close in the first half of 2027 and that Hugging Face would continue supporting different chip, cloud and AI providers.
The same reporting described scrutiny of Nvidia’s Groq licensing agreement and whether customers received larger chip allocations when buying networking equipment and Groq processors. Officials had examined its purchases of SchedMD and Run:ai, too.
Nvidia declined to comment for that report. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to discuss individual matters, citing department policy.
Megaspeed denies diverting chips to China
Bloomberg reported that Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter contacted Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler in late summer 2025 about Megaspeed and Alice Huang’s detention in Singapore.
According to people familiar with the matter, Teter wanted to know whether the Bureau of Industry and Security had been involved in her detention. Nvidia said its lawyer was unaware of the affair when he made the call.
The report said the Justice Department asked the bureau to pause its work in late 2025. Nvidia said it consults government officials to provide information and seek guidance, while the bureau said it conducts enforcement “strictly by the book.”
Megaspeed denied diverting chips and said its attempts to engage U.S. officials had gone unanswered. It said Singapore’s investigation into alleged chip diversion ended earlier this year without adverse action against the company.
Supermicro’s filing details requests for records
In its quarterly SEC filing, Supermicro disclosed that federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment on March 19 against three people employed by or associated with the company over an alleged conspiracy to violate export controls.
The server maker said it received a grand jury subpoena seeking documents about those individuals, the facts in the indictment, its compliance program and internal controls. It said it was cooperating and continuing to produce records.
Separately, Supermicro disclosed outstanding information requests from the Commerce Department’s Office of Export Enforcement concerning customers and proposed transactions involving restricted graphics processors.
The company said it had not been informed that it was a target of those Commerce inquiries. It could not estimate potential losses from them.
Senate letter seeks answers by Nov. 24
Senator Michael Bennet’s Nov. 11 letter asked four senior administration officials for an update on the Megaspeed investigation, including the Justice Department’s continuation of work initially led by Commerce.
The Colorado Democrat requested consideration of placing Megaspeed on the Entity List or using an “Is Informed” letter to block specified semiconductor shipments. He asked officials to work with Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia on possible export-control violations.
His requests cover restrictions on Chinese customers’ remote access to advanced chips, purchases through subsidiaries of Chinese companies, and how intelligence assessments about Alice Huang and Megaspeed were shared among agencies. Bennet requested written responses by Nov. 24, 2026.
