World

Nvidia CEO’s Affair Raises Questions About Chinese Espionage Claims

By Hettie O'Brien

The New York Times reported last month that Nvidia founder Jensen Huang had a "close relationship" with Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore‑based Megaspeed, a company that supplies Nvidia chips and rents computing space to Chinese firms. Megaspeed is a customer of Nvidia, and the US government has investigated whether the company may have been violating US export restrictions by shipping chips to China. The US intelligence community, after conducting surveillance on Alice Huang, concluded that she was a Chinese intelligence asset passing information to Beijing. The intelligence that led to this assessment is classified, and the specific agency involved is not publicly identified.

Nvidia said that Jensen Huang’s interactions with Alice Huang were "not unusual or unexpected." On Sunday, Huang admitted in a letter to his employees that he had been having an affair, stating, "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children," and added that he was "deeply sorry." Nvidia’s valuation fell as the story unfolded: by yesterday, $430 bn (5.5 %) had been wiped off its share price, and early this morning the figure rose to about $600 bn after reports that Nvidia’s board was considering whether to oust Huang.

The company has appointed outside counsel to review the relationship and says it has no reason to believe that secrets or national security were compromised.

Alice Huang’s background, as reported by the Financial Times, includes work as a journalist for China’s state broadcaster, positions at HSBC and Citic Securities, and a 2015 role at investment management firm Hexi. She met financier Kang Wei there; the pair later became AI entrepreneurs. In 2023, they acquired Megaspeed, a Singaporean subsidiary of a Chinese gaming company, with plans to turn it into a data‑centre business. The FT notes that the two pitched investors on their ability to secure access to Nvidia chips.

The earliest public photo of Jensen and Alice together is from an after‑party following a tech trade show in Taipei in 2024. No details are known about when the relationship began, when it became romantic, or what information, if any, Alice Huang may have passed to Beijing.

The case highlights the broader context of US concerns over Chinese access to AI technology. In 2022, the Biden administration passed the Chips and Science Act, restricting the sale of US chips in China and banning the export of most Nvidia chips. Chinese intelligence agencies, including the Ministry of State Security (MSS), have long been involved in industrial espionage, and the MSS is now larger than the CIA. Experts note that the MSS could have recruited Alice Huang as a "honeytrap" to target Jensen Huang, though China has denied that she was a spy.

Jensen Huang has cultivated a close relationship with former President Donald Trump, lobbying the Trump administration to loosen AI regulations and roll back restrictions on Nvidia chip sales to China. He attended a White House state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping and a meeting of tech and AI executives last month. Trump reportedly was briefed on US intelligence surveillance of Alice Huang and defended Huang as an "honourable guy" who "built a great American company."

The story remains unresolved: it is unclear whether Nvidia’s board knew of US intelligence suspicions, what evidence led to those suspicions, or what, if any, information Alice Huang may have transmitted to Beijing.