Trump took NO action after a briefing that Nvidia's Jensen Huang had a 'close relationship' with a suspected Chinese spy
Jensen Huang and Alice Huang, the Megaspeed executive US intelligence determined was operating as an asset for Chinese intelligence, whom officials say Huang developed a close relationship with.Jensen Huang (right) and Alice Huang (left). President Trump was briefed on the intelligence about her roughly a year ago but chose not to act, reportedly unwilling to disrupt Nvidia's sales or antagonise Beijing.
Alice Huang — also known as Huang Le — a Chinese national who serves as managing director of the Singapore-based AI firm Megaspeed, was assessed by US intelligence agencies to be a Chinese spy funnelling commercial intelligence back to Beijing. Her connection to Jensen Huang — no relation — came to light only after investigators had already placed her under surveillance for a separate reason: suspicion that Megaspeed was diverting restricted Nvidia chips to China.
Megaspeed stands accused of facilitating the smuggling of $2bn worth of Nvidia chips, acquiring them via a Chinese server manufacturer and selling compute access to Chinese companies including Alibaba.
Trump was reportedly unwilling to act, concerned that doing so would hurt Nvidia's chip sales, which he regards as critical to the US economy and stock market, and that it could further inflame tensions with Beijing over trade.
Nvidia pushed back, stating that diversion allegations against Megaspeed were 'thoroughly investigated and debunked last year' — and that Jensen Huang's meetings with Alice Huang were no different from his contacts with thousands of other customers.
