The Pulse
U.S. Probe Put Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Near an Alleged China Spy Case
U.S. officials concluded that Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, was passing information to Beijing and had developed a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to a New York Times report. Nvidia said
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
President Donald Trump was briefed roughly a year ago that U.S. officials believed Beijing was receiving information from someone with direct access to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to a New York Times investigation published October 29. The report identifies that person as Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a Chinese citizen and executive at Singapore-based data-center company Megaspeed. U.S. intelligence agencies had monitored her for about a year, the Times reported, amid separate scrutiny of whether Megaspeed helped move restricted Nvidia AI chips to China.
The account draws on interviews with people briefed on classified surveillance, who spoke anonymously. It describes intelligence agencies’ conclusions and suspicions, not public charges or independently disclosed evidence; the report does not establish that Jensen Huang knew of Alice Huang’s alleged intelligence work. Nvidia disputed the suggestion that its CEO’s contact with her was unusual, and China’s government rejected the allegations.
Surveillance linked Alice Huang to Nvidia’s chief
The Times reported that U.S. officials concluded Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset passing information to Beijing. Surveillance, the newspaper said, showed she had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang. Officials were concerned she could have gathered information about Nvidia’s plans and the CEO’s efforts to persuade the Trump administration to permit more advanced chip sales to China.
Trump received a briefing on the findings about a year before the report appeared and did not act on them, according to people familiar with the surveillance. At the time, officials did not believe Jensen Huang knew Alice Huang was gathering information for China. The Times also reported that some senior administration officials later questioned whether he could have remained unaware; the public account does not resolve that disagreement.
The report said Jensen Huang had not received a defensive briefing, a warning sometimes given to Americans believed to be targets of foreign intelligence services. It also said surveillance of Alice Huang continued. The White House, CIA and National Security Agency declined to comment to the Times.
Nvidia calls the meetings ordinary customer contact
Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo rejected the idea that the CEO’s relationship with the Megaspeed executive stood out from normal business. Rizzo told the Times:
“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.”
John Rizzo, Nvidia spokesperson
Nvidia said its regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information, not sensitive trade secrets or information relevant to national security.
Megaspeed told the Times that its current leadership took the allegations “extremely seriously,” had retained outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation and had notified the U.S. government that it would cooperate. Alice Huang did not respond to the newspaper’s requests for comment. The Times said it was unclear how closely she remained connected to Megaspeed.
Chip scrutiny dates to 2024
The spy allegations follow an earlier U.S. inquiry into Megaspeed’s possible role in getting restricted Nvidia chips to Chinese companies. The Times reported that the Commerce Department began investigating the company in late 2024, after an official visiting a Malaysian data center found Nvidia equipment still packed in boxes. The department’s investigation was handed to the Justice Department in 2026, according to administration officials cited by the newspaper.
Trade records reviewed by the Times showed that a Malaysian sister company bought at least $4.8 billion in advanced AI equipment containing Nvidia chips between June 2024 and February 2026. That figure concerns the sister company’s equipment purchases; it is not a finding that the equipment was illegally diverted to China. U.S. officials suspect some chips acquired through Megaspeed may have reached China, while Nvidia has said its own investigation found no evidence the company was smuggling chips.
Warren demands answers; Beijing denies the report
Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, said the report raised questions for Nvidia and its board. “NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang and NVIDIA’s board owe Congress answers,” she said in a statement on October 29, linking the allegations to ongoing congressional concerns about advanced chip sales to China.
China’s Foreign Ministry also pushed back. Spokesperson Guo Jiakun called the reports “baseless and purely slanderous smears against China,” according to ABC News, while the Chinese Embassy in Washington separately described the U.S. allegations as “groundless smears and slanders” to the Times.
The public record leaves key questions unanswered: what information Alice Huang allegedly passed to Beijing, how it was obtained, and whether U.S. officials will brief Jensen Huang. The Times reported that the Justice Department now holds the Megaspeed investigation; Nvidia and Beijing have denied the allegations, and Megaspeed says it is cooperating with U.S. authorities.