The admission and the board's investigation
Jensen Huang, Nvidia's chief executive officer, admitted on Sunday that he had had a relationship with Alice Huang, a woman who, according to reports, is not related to him and is identified as an alleged spy in the service of Beijing. The affair, reported by the Guardian, has given new weight to footage shot last year in a Taipei venue that showed an apparently trivial contact between the two.
Nvidia's board of directors announced an independent investigation. In the statement as reported, the board says it has no reason to believe that national security or corporate secrets have been compromised, but specifies that the inquiry will examine all available information. Huang, 63, acknowledged that what happened cannot be justified.
The chip context and Megaspeed's role
The story has its roots in U.S. controls on the export of artificial intelligence chips. As early as last year, the New York Times and Bloomberg had raised doubts about Megaspeed, a Singapore-based purchaser of Nvidia's powerful processors, suggesting a diversion of supplies to China in violation of restrictions. Nvidia and Megaspeed denied it.
A subsequent New York Times article reported that Jensen Huang had formed a close relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive, and that American officials considered her an asset of Chinese intelligence. Donald Trump was reportedly informed but decided not to act. The revelation of the relationship now makes it clear that the tie was more than professional.
According to the New York Times, Nvidia reportedly managed to pressure the Department of Commerce to stop an investigation into alleged chip smuggling by Megaspeed, through a Trump-appointed official who reportedly allowed the company to intervene in the case.
The chip concessions and the open questions
Huang's relationship with the presidency is at the center of the questions. During Trump's second term, the two met at least seven times, four of which involved controls on exports of the most advanced chips. Under the previous Biden administration, the Chips Act had introduced extensive limits and strict licensing requirements; China accounted for about a quarter of Nvidia's revenue between 2020 and 2022.
Under Trump, the line changed: Nvidia obtained permission to export to China chips that had previously been banned, ceding 15% of revenue to the U.S. government, and later the more powerful H200 in exchange for 25%. The experts cited believe that the deal helps Beijing compete at the AI frontier. It remains to be verified, through the board's investigation, whether confidential information about U.S. policies was obtained during the relationship: the material offers no evidence on this point.
