Chinese executive Alice Huang accused of spying on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

U.S. authorities have concluded that Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen who was a senior executive at data-centre company Megaspeed International, was recruited by Beijing to collect intelligence on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to reports from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The Times said Huang, also known as Huang Le, is not related to Jensen Huang despite sharing a surname. She is described as fluent in English and well-connected within the global AI-chip industry, a sector the United States and China consider strategically sensitive.

Public records show Huang previously worked for HSBC and as a reporter for Chinese media outlets CCTV and Hunan TV, though AFP could not verify the source of that profile.

Media reports indicate the two had a personal relationship. Jensen Huang addressed Nvidia staff on 8 November, saying he was “deeply sorry” for being “unfaithful to my wife.” Photographs from a 2024 industry event and a 2025 dinner during Computex in Taipei show the pair together, with Jensen Huang appearing to place an arm around Huang and later leaving the venue in the same car.

Megaspeed International, which rents computing power for AI training and runs a cloud partnership with Nvidia in the Asia-Pacific region, was previously known as 7Road International. Singapore authorities questioned Alice Huang in 2025, and Bloomberg reported a Singapore probe into the firm over alleged smuggling of Nvidia chips to China. Megaspeed denied the allegations, calling Bloomberg’s report misleading.

Washington continues to restrict exports of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China for national-security reasons, and the investigation into Megaspeed reflects broader concerns about potential circumvention of those controls.