Suspected spy touted Nvidia chips, Alibaba ties, FT says

Alice Huang, the businesswoman US intelligence reportedly suspects of spying on Nvidia ↘ 4.51% chief executive Jensen Huang for China, tried to raise money for a Southeast Asian data center by pointing to her access to Nvidia graphics processors and her commercial ties to Alibaba ↘ 3.33%. The Financial Times reported the pitch, which was republished by the Australian Financial Review. The report puts Alibaba closer to the center of a widening national security inquiry into Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer.afr.com

The pitch and the money trail

The FT cited two investors who heard the pitch. In early 2025, Huang and business partner Kang Wei approached China-based investors about a project worth several hundred million dollars, and one investor said the pair promised they could obtain the GPUs and named Alibaba as a customer, TheEnergyMag reported. According to that report, company documents show that Apex Enterprise Solutions, Alibaba's Singapore subsidiary, lent money in June 2024 to Speedmatrix, Megaspeed's Malaysian unit, and Speedmatrix pledged its entire business as collateral. Two people told the FT that Alibaba has been Megaspeed's anchor and largest client, and that Nvidia began procurement talks with Megaspeed after seeing its leasing contract with Alibaba. Megaspeed strongly denies any illicit activity involving chips.theenergymag.com

The short seller Culper Research, which disclosed a short position in Nvidia, had earlier quoted an anonymous Megaspeed employee who said "the end customer is Alibaba" in a data center project involving Malaysia's YTL. The Economic Times noted that this claim has not been independently confirmed.economictimes.com

Spying allegations and Nvidia's probe

The New York Times ↗ 4.46% reported that US officials concluded Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset, and that she developed a relationship with the Nvidia CEO while under surveillance, according to Reuters. Megaspeed builds Southeast Asian data centers that rent computing power to Alibaba, and US officials suspect it has helped move restricted chips into China, the Times reported.reuters.com+1

On Sunday, Nov. 8, Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation, and Jensen Huang admitted to an affair in a memo to staff. Nvidia said it had "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised". Nvidia shares fell in premarket trading on Monday.cnbc.com+2

Congress and Beijing respond

Three House Republican committee chairs have asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing on Nov. 18. China called the spying allegations "entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China". Megaspeed told the Times that its current leadership had hired outside legal advisers to run an internal investigation and was willing to cooperate with US authorities.bbc.com+2