Nvidia and Chinese espionage: Jensen Huang's relationship triggers scandal

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged having a relationship with business figure Alice Huang, who is suspected of spying on behalf of Beijing. Amid ongoing international repercussions and investigations, US President Donald Trump publicly defended CEO Jensen Huang, stating his belief that Huang was unaware the woman was a spy.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang found himself at the center of an international espionage scandal after admitting to a relationship with Alice Huang (Huang Le), who is suspected of spying for Beijing. Alice Huang, whose exact age is unknown and who is believed to be hiding in China, began her career as a journalist for Chinese state television before moving into finance around 2016 in Hong Kong, where she worked for Shanghai Hexi and HSBC. In March 2023, she joined Singapore-based MegaSpeed, working as a manager and shareholder until the end of the year. MegaSpeed operates data centers in Southeast Asia equipped with Nvidia chips and leases cloud services to Chinese tech giants, raising suspicions that the company acts as a back door allowing Chinese customers to access Nvidia microprocessors despite export embargoes. While both Nvidia and MegaSpeed have denied any technology leaks, China also denies espionage operations.

Despite an internal investigation conducted by Nvidia and inquiries by the FBI, US President Donald Trump stood by Jensen Huang. Trump described Huang as an "honorable person" and expressed his belief that he did not know the woman was a spy. It was reported that US intelligence warned Trump about the connection between Jensen Huang and Alice Huang approximately a year ago, but Trump did not take action in order not to disrupt Nvidia's massive chip sales and trade relations. In May, just before Huang joined Trump's China delegation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly reminded Trump of this intelligence, yet Trump insisted on Huang's inclusion in the trip.