US memo links Jensen Huang to alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang US officials believe Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had a romantic relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive who American intelligence thinks was recruited to spy for China, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.The claim comes from a government memo written earlier this year using information gathered by US intelligence. According to the FT, it was shared with a small group of top officials shortly before President Donald Trump travelled to Beijing for his May summit with Xi Jinping. Alice Huang is believed to have been recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s main spy agency.Nvidia declined to comment on the memo or the claim of an intimate relationship. The company has previously said Huang meets “thousands of customer executives every year.” The White House and the CIA also declined to comment, and Alice Huang could not be reached. Neither she nor Megaspeed has been charged with a crime. The two Huangs are not related.
Megaspeed bought billions in Nvidia hardware while Alice Huang was a top executive
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a Chinese citizen. She was listed as Megaspeed’s managing director for its first eight months and has described herself as its CEO, though she has since left. The company was spun off in 2023 from 7Road, a Chinese gaming and cloud firm partly owned by the Chinese government.Washington has been watching Megaspeed since late 2024. That year, a Commerce Department official visited its Malaysian data centre and found Nvidia equipment still packed in boxes, which suggested the hardware was passing through rather than being installed. The New York Times, citing trade records, reported that Megaspeed’s Malaysian sister company bought at least $4.8 billion of advanced AI equipment with Nvidia chips between June 2024 and February 2026.Nvidia says its own checks found no evidence of chips being diverted to China.The two executives have been photographed together more than once: at a Taipei bar with a group of customers around Computex in June 2024, and leaving a Taipei restaurant after a business dinner in May 2025.
Three House committees want Jensen Huang to explain his Megaspeed ties on November 18
The FT report landed a day after three Republican chairmen asked Huang to sit for a joint, closed-door briefing. Brian Mast of the Foreign Affairs Committee, John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China and Rick Crawford of the Intelligence Committee want him to discuss his interactions with Alice Huang and Nvidia’s safeguards against foreign espionage.“It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk,” they wrote.The request is voluntary, not a subpoena. It follows a New York Times report last month that US spy agencies learned of the relationship by surveilling Alice Huang. Huang has described his dealings with her as normal business and said the US government never told him about its suspicions.It also marks a shift for Republican leaders, who have mostly followed Trump’s hands-off line on tech. Anti-tech sentiment largely helped Democrats in the midterms, and Senator Elizabeth Warren has renewed her call for Huang to testify.
US security officials are frustrated by Huang’s lobbying for China chip sales
The allegations land on a CEO with rare access to the White House. National security officials have privately voiced frustration with Huang, who personally lobbied Trump this year to let Nvidia sell its H200 chip to Chinese customers, the FT reported.Huang has met Trump several times since his second term began. When Trump left for Beijing in May, Huang was not among the CEOs on Air Force One. Trump called him after learning this, and Huang flew to Alaska to board the presidential jet during a stopover. In September, he attended Trump’s state dinner for Xi.The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Beijing has previously called claims that it was spying on Nvidia groundless.So far, the memo has reached Capitol Hill only through press reports. Huang has until Wednesday, November 11, to tell lawmakers whether he will answer questions about it in person.
