Malaysia denies clearing Megaspeed and probes whether AI chips were re-exported

Malaysia has officially entered the AI chip diversion scandal that brought down Nvidia's CEO. The country's Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) said on Friday, November 13, that it never cleared Megaspeed International or its local affiliate, Speedmatrix, and that it is investigating whether AI chips brought into the country were re-exported to other destinations within the law.

According to the ministry, verification visits carried out at data centres where Speedmatrix operates are part of the sector's regular monitoring and should not be interpreted as an endorsement or clearance of the companies. "Any verification visits carried out by MITI at these facilities are part of its regular monitoring of the data centre sector, and should not be taken to mean that a company has been cleared. Any suggestion otherwise is inaccurate," the ministry said in a statement.

Speedmatrix operates as a tenant at data centres in Malaysia and brings its own servers and AI chips into the country. Today, importing those chips into Malaysia requires no licence. Moving them out, however, is controlled: since July 2025, exporting, re-exporting, transiting or transshipping high-performance US AI chips from or through Malaysia requires a MITI permit under the Strategic Trade Act 2010. False declarations to customs are a serious offence under the Customs Act 1967.

MITI said it is working with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department to determine whether any of the chips brought into the country by Speedmatrix were re-exported and whether those operations complied with the law. The ministry also said it is coordinating the case closely with authorities in Singapore and the United States and is considering further measures to close regulatory gaps.

Minister Johari Abdul Ghani said separately this week that the government is weighing new legislation to tighten oversight of data centre operations and ensure that imported chips subject to US restrictions are used in the country, not diverted elsewhere. "Malaysia welcomes investment in data centres and technology, but will not allow itself to be used to get around export controls," MITI said, warning of "stern action" against companies that breach the country's laws.

The background

The Malaysian statement comes a day after Jensen Huang resigned on November 12 as president, CEO and board member of Nvidia, effective immediately. Chief financial officer Colette Kress took over as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor. Read Geekiki's full coverage in the earlier article: Nvidia shares plunge after Jensen Huang resigns.

Washington and Singapore are investigating whether Megaspeed, an Nvidia cloud partner, helped move high-performance US AI chips to Chinese entities through data centres in Southeast Asia. According to reports, US officials suspect a former Megaspeed executive, Alice Huang, of acting for Chinese intelligence. Singapore has barred the former executive from re-entering the country. Huang has also been summoned to testify before the US Senate, as covered in Geekiki's update: US Senate summons Jensen Huang and Lutnick to testify on Nvidia and China.

It is important to stress: so far, no authority has confirmed that chips were actually diverted to China. What exists are ongoing investigations in the United States, Singapore and now Malaysia.

Image: the skyline of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at night. Image credit: Shahee Ilyas, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA).

Sources

Transparency note: this article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence, cross-checked against public posts and internet sources, and reviewed before publication. Always consult the original sources to confirm the facts.

By Muse