China has rejected reports linking Alice Huang, a businesswoman connected to the founder and CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, with the country's intelligence services. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers that the allegations lack foundation and seek to discredit Beijing.
The response comes after several news reports, based on U.S. intelligence sources, said that the businesswoman may have been recruited to collect information about the head of the technology company and its related plans involving artificial intelligence chips.
Nvidia's board of directors has opened an independent investigation to examine reports of a possible foreign intelligence operation against Huang. The executive has acknowledged that he had an extramarital relationship, but has not confirmed that the businesswoman worked for Chinese intelligence services or that information from the company was leaked.
The suspicions come from a U.S. intelligence memorandum
The information about Alice Huang is based on a memorandum that, according to The New York Times, citing U.S. intelligence sources, circulated in the Donald Trump's Administration. The document said that the businesswoman would work for the Chinese Ministry of State Security and had been recruited to collect information about Jensen Huang.
According to those reports, the alleged operation would form part of a Beijing initiative to obtain details about the U.S. artificial intelligence chips and influence decisions regarding the availability of the most advanced models for the Chinese market.
The existence of such suspicions does not prove that a spying operation took place or that Huang provided confidential information. The full content of the memorandum and the evidence that would support the allegations have not been made public.
Alice Huang's relationship with a technology-sector company
Alice Huang, also identified as Huang Le, worked as an executive at Megaspeed International, a company based in Singapore linked to the business of data centers and commercially related to Nvidia, according to the information published about the case.
The company had already appeared on the radar of U.S. authorities. In 2025, the Department of Commerce investigated Megaspeed over suspicions that it could facilitate the resale of Nvidia chips to Chinese companies in order to evade U.S. export restrictions. That investigation also does not substantiate Alice Huang’s involvement in espionage activities.