US memo says Nvidia’s Huang dated suspected Chinese spy

A US intelligence memo concluded that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had a romantic relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at one of the chipmaker's Singapore customers, according to the Financial Times. US officials believe China's Ministry of State Security recruited her to gather information on the American company. Before Donald Trump traveled to Beijing in May, the memo was shared with a small group of senior US officials, NDTV Profit reported, citing the FT.ft.com+1

The report puts the head of the world's most important AI chipmaker, who is also an influential ally of Trump, at the center of a counterintelligence inquiry. It comes as Washington continues to argue over which advanced chips should be allowed to reach China.

What the Memo Alleges

The FT report came one day after The New York Times ↗ 4.26% reported on Friday, November 6, that Alice Huang, whose Chinese name is Huang Le, was recruited to collect intelligence on Jensen Huang. According to the Times, Beijing wanted to learn more about US AI chips and possibly push Nvidia to make its most advanced chips available to China. Officials drafted the memo earlier this year based on intelligence agency information, Chosun Ilbo reported.chosun.com+1

Alice Huang was a senior executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that builds data centers in Southeast Asia using Nvidia chips and rents computing power to Chinese firms such as Alibaba ↗ 1.28%, according to Chosun. US authorities have been examining whether chips were smuggled into China since late 2024. Investigators reportedly found her close relationship with Jensen Huang while they were monitoring her as part of that inquiry.chosun.com

Nvidia's Response

Nvidia declined to comment on the memo or on the alleged romantic relationship. The White House and CIA also declined to comment, per NDTV Profit. Earlier, the company had called the two executives' contacts routine customer relations and said its internal investigation found no evidence of chip smuggling. "Meeting with customers is part of the CEO's job, and Jensen speaks with thousands of client executives annually," the company said, as quoted by Chosun. Megaspeed said it had opened its own investigation and would cooperate with US authorities. On October 30, China's foreign ministry dismissed the allegations as a "smear campaign."ndtvprofit.com+1

Trump said he did not know about the specific intelligence concerns but hoped Huang would be cleared, The Economic Times reported.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Congress Seeks a Briefing

Three Republican House committee chairs, Brian Mast, John Moolenaar and Rick Crawford, have asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing on November 18. They want to hear about his interactions with Alice Huang and how Nvidia protects itself against foreign espionage, and they asked him to respond by November 11, NDTV Profit reported. In a statement, the House Select Committee on China described Alice Huang as "a publicly reported Chinese intelligence asset," Bloomberg reported.moneycontrol.com+1