A memo circulated earlier this year reportedly claimed that a female technology executive was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to spy on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, according to multiple media reports. The New York Times was first to report on the memo, which it says was based on US intelligence, while the Financial Times later added that the document also alleged a romantic relationship between Jensen Huang and the executive, Alice Huang, who works at a Singapore-based company called Megaspeed.
The story lands at the center of the US-China AI rivalry, where Nvidia's chips and the people who run the company are treated as strategic assets. Nvidia pushed back on the claims, telling the NYT that Jensen Huang's interactions with Alice Huang were "not unusual" and that the company does not share classified information with its customers.
What the reports claim
The memo, reportedly based on US intelligence, is said to name Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, as a recruit tasked with getting close to Nvidia's chief executive. The New York Times had previously reported that Jensen Huang was a target of Chinese intelligence, and the FT's follow-up added the allegation of a romantic relationship between the two.
Neither Megaspeed nor Chinese authorities have publicly responded to the memo's claims. The allegations remain unproven, and no charges or official findings have been announced, so the account rests on reporting about a document that has not been made public.
Nvidia, Megaspeed and the chip supply chain
The espionage claims are unfolding alongside separate scrutiny of how advanced Nvidia chips reach Chinese buyers. A New York Times report examined New Matrix, a Chinese company authorized by the US Commerce Department to buy advanced Nvidia chips, but reporters at its listed office address found only "a hollow gray shell," raising concerns it could be a front for a blacklisted private equity firm.
Nvidia rejected any suggestion of impropriety in its sales, with a spokesperson saying the company sells "the first, best and most of our technology in America." The two threads, an alleged intelligence operation and questions over chip buyers, feed the same anxiety in Washington: that the most valuable AI hardware in the world is being pulled into geopolitical fights faster than rules can keep up.
- A US intelligence memo circulated earlier this year, per multiple media reports.
