Nvidia CEO admits affair with businesswoman accused of smuggling chips to China
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is facing an independent probe after admitting to an affair with Alice Huang, an alleged Chinese spy.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted on Sunday to having an affair with businesswoman Alice Huang, who US officials say was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security. According to reports from The Information and Mint, Huang allegedly helped move approximately 240,000 banned Nvidia chips, including H100 and H200 GPUs, into China.
The businesswoman reportedly used her relationship with the CEO to gain access to hardware. She allegedly showed photos of herself with Jensen Huang on WeChat to customers to prove her direct connection to the Nvidia boss. A network of companies linked to her is estimated to have acquired about $7.5 billion in Nvidia AI hardware over a three-year period.
The reported network includes the Singapore-based firm Megaspeed, where Huang was a top executive, and its Malaysian subsidiary Speedmatrix. Between 2023 and 2025, roughly $4.6 billion in AI chips reportedly came through Megaspeed, while $2 billion went through Speedmatrix. Another entity, Shanghai Century Litong, was also involved and gained Nvidia Preferred Cloud Partner status in October 2023.
Nvidia’s board has launched an independent investigation into the matter, led by the law firm Wachtell Lipton and former acting US attorney Joon H. Kim. The board stated it has no reason to believe that Nvidia secrets or national security were compromised.
Jensen Huang will remain as CEO during the review.
While China has rejected the espionage claims, Republican leaders of three House committees have requested that Jensen Huang attend a closed-door briefing this month.
