Nvidia is investigating allegations that Alice Huang, a former data center executive who had a relationship with CEO Jensen Huang, may have acted on behalf of Chinese intelligence. (Foto: Instagram)
Nvidia has opened an internal investigation after CEO Jensen Huang confirmed an extramarital relationship with Alice Huang, who is suspected of working for Chinese intelligence. The investigation is focused on suspicions that Alice Huang may have acted as an agent for China.
Although they share a last name, Alice Huang is not related to Jensen Huang. She was an executive at a Singapore data center company suspected of violating U.S. export restrictions by diverting Nvidia chips to China. U.S. authorities began suspecting that she was spying for Beijing and was involved with the Nvidia CEO; Jensen Huang confirmed the relationship.
Sources told The New York Times they believed Beijing may have recruited Alice Huang to track advances in U.S. artificial intelligence chips and pressure Nvidia to make its most powerful models available to the Chinese market. Those claims remain allegations. Alice Huang has not publicly commented, while China has denied the accusations and described them as an attempt to defame the country.
People who knew Alice Huang described her to The New York Times as fluent in English and well connected among senior figures in the global AI chip industry. Megaspeed, the data center company where she previously served as an executive, still describes itself on LinkedIn as a top business partner of Nvidia.
