China Recruited a Woman to Spy on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, US Intelligence Memo Says
China’s top spy agency recruited a businesswoman to get close to Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and gather information about the world’s most advanced artificial intelligence chips, according to a report by The New York Times. The allegation, based on a United States intelligence assessment, has pulled one of the most powerful men in technology into the centre of the US-China battle over AI.
The New York Times reported on Friday, 6 November 2026, that US intelligence agencies believe Alice Huang — also known as Huang Le — was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s main intelligence agency, to target Jensen Huang and Nvidia’s most advanced hardware. The report was based on a memo that circulated among senior officials in President Donald Trump’s administration in the spring of 2026, and on people who had been briefed on the intelligence.
It is important to be clear about what this is — and what it is not. No charges have been brought against Alice Huang or Jensen Huang. No public finding of wrongdoing has been made. The memo at the heart of the story has not been published. What is on the public record is that a major newspaper, citing US intelligence sources, says American agencies assess that the recruitment happened. Nvidia, the Chinese government and Alice Huang herself all dispute or decline to confirm the account. This article reports what each side has said, and separates what is alleged from what is proven.
What the report says
According to The New York Times, the alleged operation had two goals. The first was to learn more about Nvidia’s most advanced chips — the graphics processors, or GPUs, that power the data centres training today’s most capable AI systems. The second was to persuade Jensen Huang to lobby for shipping some of Nvidia’s most advanced GPUs to China. The Times described that second goal as a “stretch goal”, meaning it was an ambitious extra target rather than the main task.
The report says the operation dates back to at least 2024. That year, Alice Huang and Jensen Huang — who are not related — were photographed together at an industry party in Taipei in June 2024, according to the Times. Around the same time, Megaspeed, the Singapore-based data centre company where Alice Huang was a senior executive, began a rapid expansion. The Times also reported that Alice Huang had been under US surveillance for at least a year.
The Financial Times added a further detail on Saturday, 7 November, reporting that US officials believe the relationship between the two Huangs was romantic. The FT said its account was based on people familiar with a memo written by US officials earlier this year, which was shared with a small group of senior officials shortly before President Trump travelled to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Who is Alice Huang?
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a Chinese businesswoman and a senior executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data centre company. She was listed as Megaspeed’s managing director until at least 2023, according to earlier reporting.
Megaspeed is not a household name, but it sits in an important part of the AI supply chain. The company builds data centres in Southeast Asia using Nvidia chips and rents the computing capacity to customers, including the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The Times reported that this arrangement amounts to a limited end-run around US export controls, because Chinese companies can rent computing power abroad instead of buying the restricted chips themselves.
The Times also reported that Megaspeed has ties to the Chinese military through an investment in a cybersecurity subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Group, a military electronics vendor. What is notable, according to the reporting, is that a senior executive of the firm is now said to have worked directly for China’s Ministry of State Security during the period of the company’s rapid growth.
Alice Huang is also reported to have connections with senior executives across the AI chip industry, including leaders at Gigabyte, the Taiwanese manufacturer that is one of the major assemblers of Nvidia chips. She speaks English well, according to the reporting, and mixed widely with senior figures in the industry.
The memo and the briefing Trump received
The core of the story is a memo. According to the Times, the memo circulated among top policymakers in the Trump administration last spring. It said that the Chinese businesswoman who had a close relationship with Nvidia’s chief executive was a spy for the Ministry of State Security, and that she had been recruited to collect intelligence on Jensen Huang and on Nvidia’s most advanced chips.
The Times reported that US intelligence agencies briefed President Trump about the relationship between the two Huangs last year, in 2025, but that he chose not to do anything about it. The newspaper had already reported on 29 October that Trump took no action after an intelligence briefing about someone close to Nvidia’s chief executive.
That detail matters because it raises an obvious question: if the president was told a year ago, why is the story only becoming public now? The reporting does not answer that question directly. What it does show is that the intelligence assessment has been circulating inside the administration for months, and that it has now reached Congress — which is where the next chapter of the story will play out.
Congress steps in
Three Republican chairs of House committees have invited Jensen Huang to a closed-door briefing on 18 November to discuss his interactions with Alice Huang and Nvidia’s protections against espionage. The letter was signed by Brian Mast, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee; John Moolenaar, who leads the Select Committee on China; and Rick Crawford, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.
The lawmakers want to question Jensen Huang about the Times report and about the security framework Nvidia has in place to protect its technology and information from foreign adversaries. The briefing is scheduled to take place in Room 2172 of the Rayburn House Office Building, and the lawmakers asked Huang to confirm the date or propose an alternative by 11 November.
Congressional interest is not surprising. Jensen Huang is one of the most influential figures in the global AI industry, and his views on selling chips to China carry real weight in Washington. The three committees cover foreign affairs, intelligence and competition with China — exactly the areas this story touches. A closed-door briefing means the session will not be public, so whatever Huang tells lawmakers may not be disclosed.
What Nvidia and China say
Nvidia has pushed back firmly. Company spokesperson John Rizzo told the Times that Nvidia does not share classified information with customers, and that customers do not ask it to lobby the president for export deals. He said the interactions between the two Huangs were “not unusual” and that the chief executive meets thousands of executives every year as part of his job.
Nvidia has also said that the underlying chip-diversion allegations — the suggestion that its chips were improperly reaching China — were investigated and debunked last year. Speaking to Bloomberg on 29 October, before the latest reports, Jensen Huang called Nvidia’s dealings with Megaspeed “normal and not unusual”.
China has rejected the allegations outright. A Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington called the reports “unsubstantiated” and “nothing but smears against China” in a statement to the Times. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun rejected the allegations as groundless speculation and an attempt to smear China. Alice Huang did not respond to requests for comment. The CIA and the White House also declined to comment.
Why Nvidia’s chips matter so much
To understand why this story matters, it helps to understand what Nvidia sells — and why Washington wants to control who can buy it.
Nvidia makes the most powerful AI chips in the world. Its graphics processors, known as GPUs, are the engines inside the data centres that train large AI models, from chatbots to scientific research tools. The company’s most advanced chip line is called Blackwell, and its successor is called Rubin. Whoever controls the supply of these chips has a major advantage in the race to build the most capable AI systems.
That is why the US government restricts their sale to China. Washington’s export controls are designed to slow China’s progress in advanced AI and supercomputing, which the US sees as a national security risk. China, for its part, wants access to the chips — and has been finding workarounds, including renting computing power from data centres abroad.
Jensen Huang has been at the centre of this debate. He successfully petitioned Trump in 2025 to allow more GPU exports to China, and later struck a deal to sell limited quantities of Nvidia’s second-most-powerful chip there. Under that arrangement, the US government takes an unusual 25 percent cut of the sales. But Nvidia does not sell its most powerful Blackwell chips to China. Jensen Huang had advocated Blackwell sales in 2025, but Trump never signed off on the idea. By May 2026, Huang himself said Blackwell and its successor Rubin should not be exported to China.
This is the context in which the alleged spying operation must be understood. If someone wanted to know where Nvidia’s chip technology was heading, or to influence whether its most advanced chips reached China, there are few better people to get close to than Jensen Huang. He is not only Nvidia’s chief executive — he is also, in effect, the gatekeeper of the world’s most important AI hardware, and a trusted voice in the White House on technology policy.
What is still not proven
It is worth repeating what no outlet has reported. No outlet has reported that Alice Huang obtained Nvidia trade secrets, or that Jensen Huang shared classified information, or that any specific chip design or product roadmap document changed hands. There is no established evidence in the reporting that Alice Huang caused or influenced any policy decision about chip exports.
The story also rests on anonymous sourcing. The Times based its report on a memo that has not been published and on people briefed on American surveillance, not on a public document or a court filing. The Financial Times’ account is likewise based on people familiar with a memo. That does not mean the reporting is wrong — intelligence assessments are routinely reported this way, because the underlying material is classified — but it does mean the public cannot check the evidence for itself.
There is also a real possibility that the congressional briefing on 18 November will add new information. If Jensen Huang attends, lawmakers will hear his account directly. For now, though, the public record contains an intelligence assessment on one side and firm denials on the other.
What happens next
The immediate date to watch is 18 November, when Jensen Huang has been asked to appear before the three House committees. He has until 11 November to confirm the date or propose an alternative. The briefing will be closed to the public, so any disclosures will come later, if at all.
Nvidia reports its third-quarter results on 17 November, the day before the briefing — a coincidence that guarantees the story will be in focus during the company’s earnings week. Investors and analysts will be listening for any comment from Huang on the allegations, and for any sign that the episode could affect Nvidia’s business in China.
Beyond that, the bigger question is whether the US government will take any formal action. So far there have been no charges, no sanctions and no public intelligence finding. Until that changes, this remains a story about an allegation — a serious one, from a serious source, about one of the most important companies in the world — but an allegation all the same.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Alice Huang?
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a Chinese businesswoman and a senior executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data centre company. She was listed as the company’s managing director until at least 2023. US intelligence agencies believe she was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security, according to The New York Times. She has not responded to requests for comment, and no charges have been brought against her.
Is Jensen Huang accused of wrongdoing?
No. Jensen Huang is not accused of any wrongdoing. The allegation is that Alice Huang was recruited to gather intelligence on him and on Nvidia’s chips, and possibly to influence him. Nvidia says his interactions with her were routine business with a customer. He has been invited to a congressional briefing on 18 November to discuss his contacts and Nvidia’s security protections.
What is Megaspeed?
Megaspeed is a Singapore-based data centre company. It builds data centres in Southeast Asia using Nvidia chips and rents the computing capacity to customers, including Alibaba. The New York Times reported that this arrangement is a limited way around US export controls, since Chinese companies can rent computing power abroad rather than buying restricted chips directly.
What are the Blackwell chips?
Blackwell is Nvidia’s most powerful line of AI chips, used to train the most advanced AI models. The US government does not allow Blackwell chips to be sold to China under export controls. Its successor line is called Rubin. Jensen Huang said in May 2026 that neither Blackwell nor Rubin should be exported to China.
Has anyone been charged?
No. No charges have been brought against Alice Huang or Jensen Huang, and no public finding of wrongdoing has been made against either person. The intelligence memo at the centre of the story has not been published.
Conclusion
The report that China recruited a businesswoman to spy on Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is one of the most striking espionage stories of the AI era — if the intelligence assessment behind it is right. It connects a personal relationship, a Singapore data centre company, a classified memo, a presidential briefing that led to no action, and a congressional summons, all around the single most valuable technology in the world today: the chips that power artificial intelligence.
But it is also a reminder to read such stories carefully. The central claim has not been proven in public. The memo has not been released. Nvidia and China both deny it. What is certain is that the story will not go away: Congress wants answers on 18 November, Nvidia reports earnings the day before, and the contest over AI chips between the United States and China is only getting sharper. Whatever emerges from that briefing will shape not just Nvidia’s future, but the rules of the global AI race.
Sources
- The New York Times (6 November 2026), as reported by Gizmodo, “Chinese Spy Who Targeted Jensen Huang Worked Directly for China’s Top Spy Agency”: https://gizmodo.com/chinese-spy-who-targeted-jensen-huang-worked-directly-for-chinas-top-spy-agency-report-2000836560
- Financial Times (7 November 2026), as reported by FinanceFeeds, “Jensen Huang alleged Chinese spy romance — US memo”: https://financefeeds.com/jensen-huang-alleged-chinese-spy-romance-us-memo/
- The Straits Times account of The New York Times report, via ABloomInst-247, “China spy claims around Nvidia’s Jensen”: https://www.abloominst-247.com/2026/11/china-spy-claims-around-nvidias-jensen.html
- International Business Times Singapore, “China’s top spy agency recruited woman to get close to Nvidia CEO in AI chip espionage plot”: https://www.ibtimes.sg/chinas-top-spy-agency-recruited-woman-get-close-nvidia-ceo-ai-chip-espionage-plot-trump-96004
- Seoul Economic Daily, “US Congress presses Nvidia’s Jensen Huang on alleged Chinese [spy]”: https://en.sedaily.com/international/2026/11/07/us-congress-presses-nvidias-jensen-huang-on-alleged-chinese
This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.
