Nvidia Honey Trap Scandal: Huang Admits Affair, FBI Looking In
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to an affair with a former executive of Singapore-based Megaspeed, whom US officials accuse of passing information to Beijing. Nvidia is investigating, President Donald Trump says the FBI is looking into it, and Beijing calls the claims smears.
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang admitted this week to an affair with a former executive of Singapore-based tech company Megaspeed, and Nvidia said it is investigating an alleged espionage plot, in what has become the Nvidia honey trap scandal. US officials name the woman as Alice Huang. She is no relation to him.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, November 10, that the FBI was also looking into the affair. He said he had spoken to Huang by phone.
"I asked him about that and he said he had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy," Trump said at a White House briefing.
What US authorities allege
American authorities have investigated Megaspeed and Alice Huang for years. They allege the company has flouted US restrictions and helped route high-grade Nvidia chips into China.
Concern grew when US intelligence concluded she was acting as an agent and passing information to Beijing's Ministry of State Security, according to US media reports. The New York Times also reported that intelligence about a romantic relationship between the two was presented to Trump last year, and that he took no direct action.
Why the chips matter
Nvidia makes the highest-grade computer chips used to power and scale up artificial intelligence models. Businesses and governments worldwide want them. China needs that kind of technology if it hopes to overtake the United States in AI.
For that reason, Washington has imposed strict export controls on selling the advanced chips into China. US tech figures and politicians are now asking whether an alleged honey trap, meaning a romantic or sexual entanglement used to extract information, has put those protections at risk.
Huang, a US citizen, co-founded Nvidia and has run it for more than 30 years. He has been to the White House at least five times since Trump returned to office. Trump has called him a "great, brilliant person" who had "done amazing things for our country".
Beijing rejects the claims
China denies that Alice Huang is a spy. It has called the allegations "smears" against China.
The Global Times, an English-language Chinese state media outlet, called the affair a "political witch hunt". It said Western media had been drawn in by the lure of a sexy spy plotline.
"It's quite a story, complete with all the twists and suspense of a Hollywood thriller. But so far, the public has seen no hard evidence to back up the central allegations," the Global Times said. It added that the extramarital affair had no connection to chip manufacturing and posed no technical risk.
Nvidia has confirmed its investigation but the allegations of espionage have not been tested in court. The FBI has not made any public finding.
