Report: Nvidia CEO was contact of alleged Chinese intelligence asset

U.S. intelligence has tracked an alleged Chinese intelligence asset with close business ties to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for more than a year, according to The New York Times. President Donald Trump received a briefing on the matter. He reportedly chose no action, to avoid damaging Nvidia sales or antagonizing China.

The suspect, identified as Alice Huang or Huang Le, served as managing director of Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI firm and Nvidia cloud partner. The company builds data centers and rents compute to Chinese firms, including Alibaba. Multiple sources cited in the report claim she was passing information to Beijing.

What triggered the investigation?

The probe into Megaspeed began with a site visit. U.S. Commerce Department officials inspected the firm's Malaysia data center and found Nvidia equipment still packed in boxes. That raised suspicion the machines had just arrived or were about to ship onward to China, rather than being installed. Megaspeed was subsequently accused of helping smuggle $2 billion worth of Nvidia chips last year.

The origin of the counterintelligence case is murkier. The report does not state what first prompted U.S. intelligence agencies to investigate Ms. Huang herself. The surveillance against her continues.

How close was the contact with Jensen Huang?

Public records place the two together repeatedly. A LinkedIn post by NetThunder, identified as Megaspeed Chairwoman Alice Wong, photographed Ms. Huang sitting beside Jensen Huang at an informal event around Computex 2024. Roughly a year later, near Computex 2025, she was seen leaving a Taipei restaurant with Huang and other business associates.

An Nvidia spokesperson told Tom's Hardware: "Megaspeed has been no different than many other regional cloud customers. Jensen's interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected. Meetings with customers are part of a CEO's job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year."

The spokesperson added: "Our regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information — not sensitive NVIDIA trade secrets — and zero information relevant to national security."

Was Huang given a defensive briefing?

No. Sources cited in the report said Jensen Huang has not received a defensive briefing — a warning U.S. counterintelligence agencies sometimes issue to Americans targeted by foreign intelligence services. The report speculates the omission was deliberate, to avoid alerting Ms. Huang that she was under investigation.

U.S. officials do not believe the Nvidia CEO was aware of her intelligence activities. Nvidia stated: "We're confident that if the U.S. government believes that any person is a threat to American industry, it would let us know. We often receive updates from the U.S. government regarding parties and entities of concern and always act accordingly."

That statement is a promise of process, not proof of notification. The record shows the government knew for over a year and, per the report, briefed the president rather than the company.

What does Beijing say?

The Chinese embassy in Washington denied the allegations. It called the claims "groundless smears and slanders" against China.

The concern inside the U.S. government extends beyond one firm. Some U.S. officials reportedly worry Beijing may be targeting close allies of President Trump more broadly. A senior executive of the company that arguably single-handedly fueled the AI boom would be a logical collection target, as would any figure in the president's orbit — and Huang, a celebrity CEO, sits at the intersection of both.

What remains unverified?

Several claims rest on unnamed sources. The report does not identify which intelligence agencies conducted the surveillance. It does not describe what information Ms. Huang allegedly passed to Beijing, nor over what channel. No charges against her appear in the record. The smuggling accusation against Megaspeed, while quantified at $2 billion, has not produced public enforcement action described in the report.

The confirmed facts are narrower: a boxed-equipment discovery in Malaysia, a $2 billion smuggling allegation, photographs of proximity, and a year of silent surveillance.