“Meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job.” That is how Nvidia answered a New York Times report that its chief executive, Jensen Huang, was the target of a Chinese spy plot.
The Times, in a story published Thursday, said U.S. intelligence officials had concluded that a senior executive at a Singapore-based data center company was passing information to Chinese officials in Beijing. The paper named her as Alice Huang. It said she had built a “close relationship” with Jensen Huang, and that the two were photographed together in 2024. Her employer is Megaspeed International.
Nvidia’s answer
An Nvidia spokesperson told ABC News that Huang “talks with thousands of customer executives every year.” The statement went on: “Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected.”
The company also leaned on Washington. It said it was confident the U.S. government would tell it if anyone posed a threat to American industry, and that it often gets updates from the government on parties and entities of concern and always acts accordingly. The implication is plain enough: Nvidia says it was never warned about her.
Alice Huang and Megaspeed did not answer ABC News when asked for comment.
Beijing calls it slander
China’s Foreign Ministry hit back on Friday. Spokesperson Guo Jiakun, at his daily press briefing, said: “The reports are baseless and purely slanderous smears against China.”
The White House angle
The Times also reported that President Donald Trump was briefed on what the intelligence officials found and took no action. The White House has not responded to ABC News on that point.
Trump and Huang are close. Huang advises the president as the U.S. and China race each other on artificial intelligence. In September he sat among the guests at a White House state dinner where Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the same month he went to a White House luncheon for AI and tech leaders.
Money is part of the picture too. In January, Huang persuaded Trump to clear the way for sales of advance chips to China, under a deal that gave the U.S. government 25% of the profits. Trump also personally owns Nvidia shares, and Nvidia is the world’s most publicly traded company.
Sources
- Nvidia responds to report that its CEO was allegedly targeted in Chinese spy plot
- Nvidia responds to report that its CEO was allegedly targeted in Chinese spy plot
Photo: Anderseidesvik (CC BY-SA 4.0)
