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US memo mentioned Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's ‘romantic ties’ with alleged Chinese spy: Report
The US intelligence community believes Alice Huang was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security.
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The US government reportedly believes Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang may have had a romantic relationship with a Chinese woman suspected of spying for Beijing's main intelligence agency.
According to a Financial Times report, US officials prepared a government memo earlier this year, citing intelligence that Huang had been romantically involved with Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a singapore-based customer of the US chipmaker.
The US intelligence community believes Alice Huang was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security, the country's main intelligence agency, people familiar with the memo said, according to the report.
The memo was circulated among a small group of senior US government officials shortly before President Donald Trump travelled to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the report said.
The report doesn't specify the timing of this China visit.
Republican lawmakers seek answers
The report says that disclosure about the memo came a day after senior Republican lawmakers asked Huang to appear privately before the House committees on China, foreign affairs and intelligence.
The lawmakers want to question the Nvidia chief about a New York Times report that US intelligence had concluded he was the target of a Chinese spying operation. They also sought answers about the security protocols maintained by the company.
White House, CIA decline to comment
FT said that the White House and the CIA declined to comment on the matter.
Photographs and videos purportedly showing Huang with the Megaspeed executive have also circulated on social media, the report further added.
Nvidia declined to comment on the government memo or the assertions that its chief executive had an intimate relationship with Alice Huang. The company has previously said that Huang meets “thousands of customer executives every year”.
Megaspeed under US scrutiny
Megaspeed has faced scrutiny from US authorities over allegations that it smuggled advanced Nvidia chips into China in violation of American export controls. Nvidia had previously launched an internal investigation into the allegations but concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
Megaspeed was spun off from a Chinese gaming company in 2023. The US government has been investigating companies, particularly in Southeast Asia, suspected of smuggling advanced semiconductor chips into China.
Megaspeed is part of Nvidia's cloud partner network. The Singapore-based company purchases equipment from the chipmaker and rents computing power to artificial intelligence developers, according to Bloomberg.
Following the New York Times report, Nvidia said its cloud partners “do not ask us to seek changes in US law or advocate for sales to China”. It added that “anyone seeking classified information through our NCP customers would have hit a dead end. We neither have nor share classified information with customers.”
Huang also defended his dealings with Megaspeed in an interview with Bloomberg last week, describing them as “normal and not unusual”. He said Nvidia had checked to ensure the company had not illegally shipped its AI processors to China.
The scrutiny has intensified amid growing competition between Washington and Beijing in artificial intelligence. US national security officials are increasingly concerned about China's access to advanced chips that could accelerate its military modernisation.
Huang's access to Trump
US national security officials have privately expressed frustration with Huang, who personally lobbied Donald Trump earlier this year to allow Nvidia to export its H200 chips to customers in China, the Financial Times report added.
The Nvidia CEO has held multiple meetings with Trump since the president began his second term in 2025.
