Chinese Citizen Alice Huang aka Huang Le Accused Of Using Relationship With Nvidia CEO To Collect AI Chip Info For Beijing

New York: Was one of America's most powerful tech CEOs unknowingly entertaining a Chinese intelligence asset while sitting at the heart of Washington's AI war with Beijing? According to a bombshell report in The New York Times (NYT) on Thursday, US intelligence agencies had concluded last year that Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a Chinese citizen and senior executive at Singapore-based data centre intermediary Megaspeed, was funneling information to Beijing through her relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

The NTY stated that the revelation sent alarm bells ringing through the White House, because Nvidia's advanced AI chips are the crown jewels of America's strategy to stay ahead of China. The intelligence intercepts, unmasked through electronic surveillance of Alice Huang, allegedly identified Jensen Huang himself, raising explosive questions about whether Beijing had gained a backdoor into Nvidia's secrets or even into President Donald Trump's own thinking on chip exports.

Even more shocking, as claimed by the reports, is that, despite being briefed on the classified findings around a year ago, Trump chose not to act, wary of derailing Nvidia's multi-billion dollar sales that fuel Wall Street and risking a fresh rupture in trade ties with China.

The executive in question is Alice Huang, also identified as Huang Le, a Chinese national who holds a senior position at Megaspeed. The company had come under scrutiny over allegations that it was assisting Chinese groups in obtaining advanced artificial intelligence chips produced by Nvidia. The American intelligence agencies later concluded that she was gathering information for Beijing, a finding that triggered concern in Washington because of her access to Huang, who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the global AI sector.

According to the report, the discovery caused alarm inside the White House due to Nvidia's central position in America's push to preserve the lead over China in artificial intelligence. The intelligence raised questions about whether Alice Huang might have secured information concerning Nvidia or gained an understanding of Trump's thinking on allowing chip exports to China.

Briefing To Trump And Reasons For Inaction

The NYT reported that Trump was informed about the findings last year but chose not to act, citing people familiar with the surveillance who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the material involved classified intelligence.

The report suggested that the President was reluctant to disrupt Nvidia's chip business, which has contributed to economic growth and buoyancy in the stock market, and to further complicate the trade relationship with Beijing.

The US intelligence agencies had been carrying out electronic surveillance of Alice Huang, the newspaper reported. During the monitoring, the communications involving a US citizen were intercepted, and through a procedure known as unmasking, that citizen was subsequently identified as Jensen Huang.

However, it remains unclear when Jensen Huang and Alice Huang first met or what information she forwarded to the Chinese agencies. The American officials initially did not believe the Nvidia chief executive was aware that she was allegedly collecting intelligence for Beijing, although some senior figures within the Trump administration have since questioned whether he could have remained unaware of her suspected role, the report noted.

Jensen Huang has not been given a defensive briefing, a type of warning occasionally provided to Americans who may be the focus of foreign intelligence efforts, according to sources familiar with the surveillance cited by the publication. The monitoring of Alice Huang is said to be continuing, while firms connected to her have kept buying Nvidia chips this year.

Nvidia Rejects Claim Of Sensitive Access

Meanwhile, Nvidia pushed back against any suggestion that the commercial ties with Megaspeed had provided the firm with access to confidential material.

Nvidia Spokesperson John Rizzo, while talking to the NYT, said, “Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected," adding that meeting customers formed part of the chief executive's job and that Huang spoke to thousands of customer executives annually.

Rizzo stated that the customers such as Megaspeed were given routine business information, “not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets", and no information pertinent to national security. Nvidia also asserted that it had looked into and disproved earlier allegations that Megaspeed was smuggling chips into China.

According to reports, the White House, the CIA and the National Security Agency declined to comment.

Megaspeed Chip Purchases Under Investigation

The report suggested that the US agencies have been looking at Megaspeed since late 2024, when an official from the Commerce Department visited a data centre in Malaysia and discovered Nvidia equipment still in the packaging, indicating that it was being shipped in or out rather than being installed at the facility.

Megaspeed functions as an intermediary, buying computing equipment powered by Nvidia and leasing computing capacity to Chinese firms, including Alibaba. The American investigators suspected that some chips procured through this network may have been diverted illegally into China.

According to the newspaper, trade records secured from ImportGenius, a trade data platform, showed that a Malaysian sister company of Megaspeed had purchased at least $4.8 billion worth of advanced AI equipment containing Nvidia chips and technology between June 2024 and February 2026.

The report revealed that the scale of purchases was considered unusually large for a small and relatively little-known company. Megaspeed and the firm’s affiliates continued to buy Nvidia products this year, frequently via intermediaries.

As per the NYT, the US has curbed exports of the most advanced Nvidia chips to China since 2022. However, companies in Southeast Asia have been able to set up data centres that acquire computing equipment and rent processing capacity to Chinese firms. The Biden administration had tightened rules governing that practice, but Trump later rolled back those curbs, with his administration now considering whether to tighten them again.

Meanwhile, Megaspeed's current leadership has emphasised that they are treating the allegations very seriously. In a statement to the newspaper, the company stated that it had retained outside counsel to carry out an internal investigation and had informed the US government of the readiness to cooperate.

China's embassy in Washington dismissed the allegations and when asked about the US intelligence assessment concerning Alice Huang, Embassy Spokesman Liu Chang called the accusations a campaign of “groundless smears and slanders" against China.

Trump's Ties With Nvidia Chief And Chip Policy

The report also outlined Jensen Huang's expanding access to Trump at a time when the administration was weighing curbs on Nvidia's sales to China.

Reports by The New York Times disclosed that Huang had lobbied the administration to ease export controls and permit Nvidia to maintain business with Chinese customers. He also negotiated an arrangement under which the US government would receive a 25% share of revenue from certain Nvidia chips approved for sale to China.

The current and former US officials, while talking to the newspaper, stated that the close relationship between Trump and Huang had hampered attempts to tighten curbs on Nvidia's overseas sales. Some proposed sanctions and investigations involving China or Nvidia had stalled inside the Commerce Department, the officials said.

Huang, who had previously maintained a low profile in Washington, visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence with his wife while the administration was considering restrictions on Nvidia chips. Nvidia subsequently donated at least $20 million to Trump's ballroom fund, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by the newspaper.

The report did not establish that Jensen Huang knowingly assisted Chinese intelligence or that Alice Huang had obtained sensitive information from him. It also left unanswered the kind of information she allegedly transmitted to Beijing, how valuable it might have been to Chinese agencies and why Trump chose not to act on the intelligence findings.

The outcome of the continuing monitoring and the possible tightening of export rules is likely to shape the next phase of US chip policy towards China.