This scandal could rock Nvidia to its core.
Update 11/8/2026 1:31 PM PT: Jensen Huang has now admitted to having an affair with the alleged Chinese spy and has issued a letter of apology to his family and staff, which you can read here.
Nvidia chief Jensen Huang is the center of a new controversy as the U.S. intelligence community believes that he had a romantic relationship with a suspected Chinese spy. According to the Financial Times, Alice Huang, sometimes referred to as Huang Le, was a top executive at Singaporean firm Megaspeed and was reportedly romantically involved with the CEO of the world's largest AI chip manufacturer. Notably, Jensen is currently married to his wife of 41 years, Lori Huang. It’s unclear whether Alice Huang was recruited by the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) before she joined Megaspeed or after she had already established a business relationship with Jensen, but it’s been reported that the suspected agent was apparently targeting the Nvidia head to help Chinese companies gain access to banned AI chips.
Megaspeed has been accused of smuggling $2 billion worth of AI chips into China via its subsidiary Speedmatrix, although Nvidia insists the company has no ties to China. Megaspeed sits at the center of a web of companies linked to China, and it was previously connected to a Chinese gaming company called 7Road International. It was founded in 2023 and reportedly owned by Huang Le Limited, led by Ms. Huang Le, or Alice Huang, before it was sold to Swiftdata that same year. The following year, Megaspeed used Speedmatrix to incorporate, with the subsidiary having two offices in Johor, Malaysia. The subsidiary is at the center of the smuggling allegations.
Research into Huang Le, or Alice Huang, has revealed inconsistencies. There were reports that she started her career as a TV journalist working for Hunan TV and Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), but an executive at the former claims to have never heard of her, while she does not have a profile under the latter. After her supposed stint in media, she moved into banking and finance as assistant to the president of HSBC’s private banking division before becoming vice president at CITIC Securities, a Chinese financial services company. It’s unclear how she became involved with Megaspeed after that, but it seems Ms. Huang built a network of companies and investors around Shanghai and Zhejiang that aggressively pushed mobile gaming companies toward AI data centers.
Questions arose about how a small company like Megaspeed could commit so much to buying Nvidia AI GPUs seemingly out of nowhere, but it certainly caught Jensen Huang's attention. After the company made its massive order, Alice Huang was spotted in a LinkedIn post hanging out for drinks with Jensen Huang and other industry executives from Gigabyte and NetThunder. She was once again seen standing behind the Nvidia chief, alongside other people, one year later as he exited a Taiwan restaurant.
Nvidia has denied the allegations, saying Jensen Huang meets with thousands of customer executives annually and that they exchange ordinary business information — not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets or national security information. China has also said that these accusations of espionage on Jensen Huang by the MSS are just “groundless smears and slanders” against Beijing.
However, foreign intelligence agencies also routinely conduct “honeypot” operations, using operatives to ensnare targets into relationships to extract data and gain insight into industry secrets. While these operations traditionally targeted politicians, members of the military, and their staff, the Lansing Institute suggests that “China is employing ‘attractive women’ posing as investors, business professionals, academics, or romantic partners to gain access to U.S. tech talent, networks, and research infrastructure.”
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
- TechieTwoI'm sure that we will be reading more about Alice Huang/ Huang Le as she has achieved amazing Biz executive positions that appear uncanny.Reply
- ZaranthosNot sure this will rock Nvidia to its core. This has happened so many times in the US government almost nobody even pays attention anymore. Dangle some booty in front of someone and they sing like a canary. There are undercover video examples of this all over the internet.Reply
- wussupi83I wonder why the intelligence agencies decided to make this public instead of using it as leverage behind closed doors. Or maybe they tried that first and it wasn't successful.Reply
-
bit_userReply
No, it said "the U.S. intelligence community", which I'm sure includes lots of former intelligence folks and others who are interested in that aspect of foreign policy. There is a lot of chatter among these folks that happens in publications and public forums, based on non-classified observations.wussupi83 said:I wonder why the intelligence agencies decided to make this public
Let me put it this way: if people see Jensen with this woman and it's generally known who she is, then that is the story. You don't need leaks to explain how this came out. And Jensen is the sort of guy who attracts a lot of attention. So, when people see him with a woman, they're naturally going to look into her. - bit_userHeh, I once had a co-worker I suspected of leaking technical information to the Chinese government. I could find no proof and I don't want to mess up someone's life on the basis of mere suspicions and circumstantial evidence, so I never pursued that matter (also, it wasn't anything business-critical, just a little nuts-and-bolts engineering). However, around that time he also tried to set me up with a date. I declined, but I always wondered whether it was a honeypot type of situation. Even if it was, I'm sufficiently low-value that I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have gone past a single date.Reply
-
pixelpusher220Reply
Intelligence is all about gathering a 1000 little bits of innocuous info. Put together they can paint the picture. Or when they make contact, if they can give info only an authorized person would have, they seem more legitimate.bit_user said:Heh, I once had a co-worker I suspected of leaking technical information to the Chinese government. I could find no proof and I don't want to mess up someone's life on the basis of mere suspicions and circumstantial evidence, so I never pursued that matter (also, it wasn't anything business-critical, just a little nuts-and-bolts engineering). However, around that time he also tried to set me up with a date. I declined, but I always wondered whether it was a honeypot type of situation. Even if it was, I'm sufficiently low-value that I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have gone past a single date.
They count on people not reporting small things for just 'dont rock the boat' reason.
See something say something is literally what you're supposed to do when sensitive/withheld/classified info is involved. -
bit_userReply
I get it. But, like I said, it was just stuff that an experienced and motivated engineer of decent quality would've been able to do (if I flatter myself, a little bit). He didn't have access to anything that would truly confer a real competitive advantage. He has a wife and US-born kids. I didn't want to create hell for them over mere suspicion about something like that. That said, if I did find clear proof that he exfiltrated some IP, I was planning to report it.pixelpusher220 said:See something say something is literally what you're supposed to do when sensitive/withheld/classified info is involved.
It did really bother me that some of my hard work might've been stolen and I warned my team mates to be on the lookout for weird questions from this guy. - hotaru251"this guy had close personal relations with a spy...we must now take the company from him" - specific set of people who have everything to gain from using an excuse to profitReply