US intelligence agencies have uncovered a Chinese espionage operation targeting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. A memo circulated among top Trump administration officials last spring revealed that Alice Huang, a Singapore-based executive at Megaspeed, was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security to gather intelligence on Huang. The goal was to learn more about US AI chips and potentially influence Nvidia to make its advanced chips available to China.
Jensen Huang, a key figure in the global AI competition, has been under scrutiny due to his interactions with Alice Huang. US officials believe her relationship with Huang was part of a broader effort by Beijing to gain insights into Nvidia’s operations. The memo’s existence and the assessment of Alice Huang’s role have not been previously reported, shedding new light on China’s industrial espionage efforts.
On November 5, Republican leaders of three US House committees requested that Jensen Huang appear for a closed-door briefing later this month regarding his interactions with Alice Huang. The New York Times reported on October 29 that US intelligence agencies had been surveilling Alice Huang for at least a year. Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo maintained that Huang’s interactions were “not unusual” and consistent with meetings he has with other customers.
The Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Chang dismissed the reporting as “unsubstantiated” and “nothing but smears against China.” Rizzo also clarified that Nvidia does not share classified information with its customers and that customers do not ask the company to influence US chip sales policies to China.