Business · Companies

Jensen Huang’s Fall: Spy Claims and a Fight Over China Chips

Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia chief executive after personal controversies and a political battle over China chip sales. His exit gives Washington's China hawks an opening to push for tighter export controls, and officials are now trading blame over Megaspeed.

By Alistair Sterling

November 15, 20263 min read

Jensen Huang's Fall: Spy Claims and a Fight Over China Chips — Jensen Huang’s Fall

Jensen Huang's fall as Nvidia chief executive, driven by spy allegations and a fight over China chip sales, has handed Washington's China hawks an opening to pursue tighter technology export controls. Huang resigned after personal controversies and a political battle over how much advanced American technology should reach Beijing.

Access to the president

Few business leaders had Huang's reach in the White House. He met President Donald Trump repeatedly, traveled with him to Britain and, in May, joined him on Air Force One for his trip to China.

Huang argued that export restrictions backfire. They shut Nvidia out of a huge market, he said, and push Chinese companies to build their own alternatives. Keeping those companies dependent on American technology was the better path, in his view.

China hawks saw it differently. They regarded Nvidia's advanced chips as critical assets in the technological and military contest between Washington and Beijing.

Trump appeared sympathetic to Huang. Last year he let Nvidia resume sales of certain chips to China in return for a share of the revenue, though the most advanced Blackwell chips stay off limits. Washington has restricted exports of Nvidia's top processors to China since 2022.

In December 2025, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick described the deal as the product of "the great American technologist talking to the great businessman president".

The allegations

Trouble came with reports of an affair between Huang and Alice Huang, who is no relation. She is a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company and Nvidia customer suspected of helping divert advanced chips to China.

US intelligence reportedly suspects her of links to Chinese intelligence. Beijing has rejected the allegations. Nvidia's board says it has no reason to believe company secrets or national security were compromised.

Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio then issued a memo warning Trump about the relationship, according to reports. The memo drew on a CIA report. A person familiar with the matter said Rubio recast the agency's findings in more assertive terms.

A former official who worked on chip policy, speaking anonymously, said: "They wanted to destroy the influence Jensen had over the president." Two former officials said some national security officials resented his access.

Questions for Commerce

Attention has also turned to Lutnick's department, which controls exports of sensitive technology. A highly classified memo on the concerns about Alice Huang and Megaspeed reportedly reached him. He resisted action against the company, a decision now under scrutiny.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said several agencies had favored putting Megaspeed on the entity list, the government's trade blacklist, for months. "But Commerce has the pen... and you will have to ask them about their internal process," he said.

There are also reports that Commerce froze an investigation into suspected chip smuggling by Megaspeed after Nvidia's general counsel contacted investigators and invoked a senior Trump appointee. The case was allegedly handed to the Justice Department.

Megaspeed chief executive Tan Yong Pong, also known as James Tan, said the company takes its export control obligations "extremely seriously". He said it had cooperated with Commerce Department inspections.