Taiwan Media Tie Alice Hwang to China's MSS 'Chip Team'

Alice Hwang, the former Nvidia executive at the center of the Jensen Huang affair scandal, belonged to a semiconductor-focused covert unit inside China's Ministry of State Security, Taiwan's Liberty Times reported on the 12th, citing U.S. officials who suspect she was part of what the unit calls the Chip Team.

The report says Chinese authorities ran a covert, government-wide operation to obtain advanced U.S. technology, including artificial intelligence systems. Hwang stood at the front line of that operation. Her specific task, according to the reports, was disrupting Nvidia's internal chip supply chain. Hwang was also found to have done business with Nvidia rivals, including Huawei and DeepSeek.

What do investigators actually say?

The espionage claim remains unproven in Washington. U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche told Reuters the FBI is investigating allegations of Hwang's ties to the Chinese government. He said investigators have not yet concluded whether she was a Chinese spy.

Bloomberg reported a separate track. The Justice Department believes Hwang smuggled Supermicro products into China and plans to open an investigation. Supermicro builds and sells servers centered on Nvidia chips.

CNBC, citing an analysis by private intelligence firm Tesari, reported the same day that Hwang indirectly controlled a Huawei data center. Through Shanghai Hexi, a Chinese financial firm she co-owns, she held a stake in Huawei Cloud through several intermediaries.

The Information added another thread. Citing sources, the IT-focused outlet reported that companies linked to Hwang promised to supply Nvidia's advanced AI chips and took equity stakes in DeepSeek.

What does this change for the White House?

The political fallout is landing on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Criticism has mounted over his failure to sanction Megaspeed, the company where Hwang served as an executive. Reuters reported that senior White House officials are now discussing whether to remove him.

Congress is moving in parallel. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, and Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, ranking Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, sent a letter to Lutnick the same day announcing a formal investigation into dealings between the Donald Trump administration and Nvidia.

Where the case stands

The claims now span four governments' worth of threads, and they do not all point the same way:

• Taiwan media, including Liberty Times: Hwang belonged to an MSS "Chip Team" tasked with disrupting Nvidia's supply chain.
• Attorney General Blanche: the FBI investigation is open, with no conclusion on espionage.
• Bloomberg: the Justice Department believes Supermicro products were smuggled into China and plans to investigate.
• CNBC and Tesari: Hwang indirectly controlled a Huawei data center through Shanghai Hexi and intermediaries.
• The Information: companies tied to Hwang promised Nvidia AI chip supply and took stakes in DeepSeek.

For now, the only confirmed actions are the congressional letter, the open FBI probe and the internal White House discussion over Lutnick's future. Whether Hwang was a Chinese intelligence operative, a business intermediary or both remains the question every investigation is trying to answer.