Alice Huang Suspected Chinese Spy: Nvidia Opens Board Probe
Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation after CEO Jensen Huang admitted an affair with Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive suspected of working for Chinese intelligence. Nvidia shares fell more than 4 percent overnight. Alice Huang has not responded publicly.
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a former Megaspeed International executive suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset, and Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation after CEO Jensen Huang admitted on Sunday to an affair with her.
Nvidia shares fell by more than 4 percent in trading overnight into Monday. The company said it has no reason to believe US national security or its confidential information has been compromised.
What Nvidia and Jensen Huang said
Jensen Huang acknowledged the affair in a staff memo. "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry," he wrote.
In late October he had described his dealings with Alice Huang as "completely normal and not unusual". The two share a last name but are not related.
Nvidia said an investigation, overseen by a committee of directors and outside legal counsel, will examine whether he was targeted by foreign intelligence. The board said it "prioritizes US national and economic security", and that Huang fully backs the review.
Nvidia and Jensen Huang have also been sued by shareholders over the affair.
Who Alice Huang is
US intelligence officials believe she was recruited by Beijing to collect information on Jensen Huang and to influence his stance on US export controls on advanced AI chips, according to reports. What she obtained, and how much Huang knew, remains unclear.
She founded Megaspeed in 2023 after a career in private equity and television. The company was spun off from 7Road Holdings Ltd, one of China's largest video game enterprises, just months after former US president Joe Biden imposed sweeping limits on AI chip shipments to China.
Megaspeed was sold to a Singapore shell company in November 2023. Days later, Nvidia designated it an official Nvidia Cloud Partner, a status that gives a customer preferred access to the chips.
Trade records show Megaspeed's imports of Nvidia products have topped $4.6 billion. At multiple facilities in South-East Asia, it rents Nvidia chips to Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group.
Earlier warnings and denials
On May 13, the New York short-selling firm Culper Research called the relationship between the two Huangs "uncomfortably close". It also theorized that Alibaba secretly financed Megaspeed through shell companies.
Culper stood to profit from falling Nvidia shares, and its claims about possible illegal chip diversion have not been independently verified. A later report said documents show Alibaba lent money to Megaspeed through subsidiaries.
Megaspeed denies wrongdoing and says it follows all relevant regulations. Nvidia has said its earlier inquiry into Megaspeed found no evidence of diversion and that the company is fully owned and operated outside China, with no Chinese shareholders.
Former US intelligence analyst Elly Rostoum called the episode "quite frankly quite careless". Alice Huang has not publicly responded to the allegations, and her whereabouts are unknown.
