Nvidia investigates suspected Chinese espionage linked to CEO Jensen Huang's extramarital affair

Alice Huang attends a dinner hosted by Nvidia CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang at a restaurant in Taipei on May 22, 2025. (Credit: Screenshot from a CTI video obtained by AFPTV)

The board of U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia launched an independent investigation Sunday evening following reports of a possible Chinese espionage operation targeting its CEO, who has admitted to an extramarital relationship. The affair has drawn in a major player in artificial intelligence and its CEO, Jensen Huang, considered one of the most influential figures in tech.

The timing is awkward, just days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s trip to China for an international summit and amid stock market turbulence in the sector.

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The investigation follows a report in The New York Times in late October that U.S. intelligence agencies suspected Alice Huang, a Chinese executive at Megaspeed, of acting as a Chinese intelligence agent and cultivating a close relationship with Huang. Also known as Huang Le, she is not related to Nvidia’s CEO.

Singapore-based Megaspeed is suspected of diverting Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to China, the newspaper reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the investigation.

In its statement, Nvidia’s board cited news reports “efforts by foreign intelligence services” targeting its founder and CEO, without specifying their geographic origin or nature. It said a committee of independent directors, “assisted by independent outside attorneys,” would oversee the investigation.

The board said it “has confidence in Jensen and his executive team” and emphasized that the CEO “fully supports this review and is committed to cooperating.”

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CEO admits affair, backs investigation

Huang confirmed his support for the investigation in a message to employees obtained by AFP , in which he admitted to an extramarital relationship and said he was “deeply sorry.” He expressed his “complete commitment” to the company but did not provide details the relationship or address the recent allegations in the media. Beijing dismissed the reports as “baseless speculation,” while Trump voiced support for Nvidia’s “brilliant” CEO.

Born in Taipei, Jensen Huang, 63, embodies an American success story. At just 9 years old, he was sent with his brother to a boarding school in a village in Kentucky, in the east-central United States. He founded Nvidia in 1993, and the company has grown explosively in recent years thanks to its chips, known as graphics cards or graphics processing units, which are considered essential to the development of generative AI. In a sign of his influence, he joined the business delegation that traveled with the U.S. president to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing last May. “I will definitely take him,” Trump told reporters Sunday, referring to his upcoming trip to China.

Trump described Huang as “an honest person” who “probably has an excuse” for the situation. A company spokesperson told AFP that “today’s news will not slow Nvidia down” and that Huang is “determined to continue leading Nvidia.”

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A relationship under scrutiny

Public information Alice Huang remains limited. The Times reported that the Chinese national was allegedly recruited by Beijing to gather intelligence on Nvidia’s CEO and held a senior position at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed International.

Citing people familiar with the surveillance operation, The Times said Alice Huang speaks fluent English and has high-level contacts in the global AI chip industry. An online turned up a short profile and photograph of Alice Huang on a Chinese investment database. The profile lists several roles, including at HSBC and as a journalist for Chinese media outlets CCTV and Hunan TV. AFP could not verify the information in the profile or identify its author but has attempted to the companies mentioned.

Media reports published last week detailed a close relationship between Jensen Huang and Alice Huang. A photo taken at an industry party in 2024 and posted on appears to show Nvidia’s CEO, in his signature leather jacket, seated to a woman with long hair and flashy jewelry identified as Alice Huang. The following year, the two attended a dinner hosted by Jensen Huang at a Chinese restaurant in Taipei during Computex, the island’s main tech show.

Journalists gathered outside the restaurant and filmed through its windows and doors. Footage shows Jensen Huang and a woman identified as Alice Huang, wearing a pink dress, interacting with other guests. At one point, live media footage shows Jensen Huang putting his arm around Alice Huang, who kisses him on the right cheek. Alice Huang can also be seen following Nvidia’s CEO as he returns to the restaurant after speaking to reporters outside, sliding her fingers along his lower back. The two then left together in the same car.

Suspected chip transfers to China

U.S. authorities concluded in 2025 that Alice Huang was targeting Jensen Huang as part of an espionage operation, according to The Times and The Wall Street Journal. On its website, Megaspeed describes itself as “a core business partner of Nvidia’s compute cloud activity in the Asia-Pacific region.” On , the company lists offices in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, between two and 10 employees, and 25 “associate members.”

When AFP called the phone number on Megaspeed’s website, the person who answered said they did not know the company and that it was a residential phone line. According to the Singapore government’s website, the company was previously called 7Road International, suggesting links to the Chinese mobile gaming company 7Road.

Washington restricts exports of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China, citing national security concerns and a desire to maintain its lead in AI. The Times reported that the U.S. government has been investigating Megaspeed since 2024 on suspicion of helping route Nvidia chips to China. The company was reportedly also investigated by Singaporean authorities, who interviewed Alice Huang in 2025, according to the U.S. newspaper.

In December 2025, Megaspeed publicly disputed news reports implicating it in illegal chip transfers.

This article was translated from L'Orient-Le Jour.

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