Nvidia on Thursday rejected a New York Times report that chief executive Jensen Huang was targeted by a suspected Chinese intelligence asset, saying allegations that its chips were diverted to China were investigated and debunked.1,3,6
The New York Times reported Thursday that American intelligence agencies last year found that Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, an executive at the Singapore-based cloud company Megaspeed, funneled information to Beijing while she had direct access to Jensen Huang. The account was based on classified intelligence described by people briefed on U.S. surveillance who spoke on condition of anonymity, and it raises national security concerns as Washington and China compete for dominance in artificial intelligence.3,4,6
Alice Huang is a Chinese citizen and former top executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore cloud company and Nvidia customer. She is not related to Jensen Huang. The United States had already suspected that she was helping China evade export controls to gain access to high-end Nvidia chips through Megaspeed before investigators learned of her access to the Nvidia chief, according to the account of the intelligence findings.4,6
According to sources cited in the report, about a year ago President Donald Trump was briefed that “Beijing was getting reports from someone with direct access” to Jensen Huang. Trump “chose not to do anything with the information,” the sources said, at least partly because of fears that U.S. action could hobble Nvidia chip sales or disrupt the trade truce between the United States and China.4
Investigators were alarmed to discover that Alice Huang may have used her role at Megaspeed to gain direct access to Jensen Huang, and now believe she may have leveraged that closeness to provide Beijing with information about one of America’s leading AI companies and to influence Trump’s thinking on AI. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last month ahead of Trump’s AI talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, “the president is completely aligned with Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia.”4
It is not clear which agencies investigated Alice Huang or what prompted their suspicions, and sources could not explain what information she may have shared with Beijing. U.S. agencies conducted electronic surveillance of Alice Huang and found that “she was in contact with an American citizen.” Because agencies could not legally surveil the American without a court order, they sought to unmask the citizen by showing a “need for information.” The report said, “In this case, the unmasking process identified Mr. Huang as the US citizen.”4
Jensen Huang did not receive a defensive briefing of the kind Americans sometimes receive when they are targets of foreign spying, the report said. Trump was told at the time of his briefing that Jensen Huang had no knowledge of the alleged intelligence gathering. Some senior officials think it is unlikely Jensen Huang would have “remained unaware” of the alleged activity for the entire duration of the professional relationship, while the report said a possible reason for no briefing was concern that he might tip her off that “she was being watched.”4
Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo said the company’s independent investigation concluded there were no signs of diversion and that Megaspeed has raised no red flags as a customer. The company described the diversion allegations as “thoroughly investigated and debunked last year.”1,3,4
In a statement, Nvidia said the relationship reflected routine business with a regional cloud customer. “Megaspeed has been no different than many other regional cloud customers,” the company said. “Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected. Meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year.”6
The company added that its regional cloud customers receive “ordinary business information—not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets—and zero information relevant to national security.” Both Nvidia and Megaspeed insist the cloud company has Singapore-based owners, though the Times reported visiting the supposed offices and talking to anyone they could find to probe the actual business operations, and reported that Alice Huang’s name was removed from Megaspeed corporate documents after U.S. scrutiny increased. It is unclear “how closely she is still connected to Megaspeed.”4,6
Liu Chang, the spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told the Times the accusations against Alice Huang are baseless and accused the United States of a campaign of “groundless smears and slanders” against China. The White House and the CIA did not respond to a request for comment.4,6
U.S. officials are concerned about where Megaspeed’s chips may end up. Social media photos found by the Times predated Alice Huang’s role arranging a Megaspeed purchase of $2 billion in chips over the next year, though it is not known when she met Jensen Huang. If those chips ended up in China, the United States worried they “could help adversaries like China develop new weapons, surveil dissidents, and leap ahead of the United States in AI development.” Officials are also concerned that Megaspeed may be supplying chips to giant data centers in Malaysia and Indonesia “that appear to remotely serve customers in China.”4
The report also said Jensen Huang’s influence in Washington has affected policy, with sources saying “some investigations and proposed trade sanctions involving China or Nvidia” have “ground to a halt within the Commerce Department.” Since developing ties with Trump, Huang has seen export controls relaxed and struck a deal giving the United States a 25 percent cut of some chip sales as he sought to sell more chips in China.4
