Nvidia chief Jensen Huang targeted in alleged Chinese spy plot, US intelligence memo says
A US intelligence memo described an alleged scheme by China's Ministry of State Security to use a Singapore-based executive to gather information on the Nvidia CEO and sensitive American AI chip technology.
By Marina Weber ·
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang was the target of an espionage operation run by China's Ministry of State Security, the New York Times reported Friday, citing people briefed on a US intelligence memo.
The memo, circulated among top Trump administration policymakers last spring, laid out an alleged plot by Beijing's spy agency to gather information about the sensitive technology behind American artificial intelligence chips, which China has largely been denied access to.
According to the report, the ministry recruited Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman and executive at a Singapore-based data center company who is also known by her Chinese name, Huang Le, to build a close relationship with the Nvidia chief and collect information on him.
The Times described the account as a glimpse into what appears to be "an especially audacious example of China's longstanding industrial espionage efforts." American spy agencies are now working to untangle Beijing's purpose in having one of its spies maintain a close relationship with the Nvidia CEO, a matter complicated by his standing as an influential figure in the global AI race and an ally of Trump.
Previous US intelligence assessments of the Nvidia chief's relationship with Le had concluded that she was a Chinese asset who funneled information to Beijing, though the memo reportedly went further, detailing her direct espionage work. The Times first revealed the plot on October 29, after US intelligence agencies had carried out at least a year of electronic surveillance on Le.
Beyond her ties to the Nvidia CEO, people familiar with Le told the Times she maintained connections with other AI chip executives, including the leaders of Gigabyte, a leading assembler of Nvidia supercomputers. She is also said to be well-connected within a network of companies and investors in China's Shanghai and Zhejiang provinces that used ties with local officials to push for data centers.
Megaspeed, Le's Singapore-based company, initiated a multibillion-dollar purchase of Nvidia AI chips shortly after she was first publicly pictured with the Nvidia CEO in 2024, a deal that reportedly took many in the industry by surprise. Since the purchase, Megaspeed has built data centers in Southeast Asia and rented computing power to Alibaba, allegedly giving the Chinese company backdoor access to chips it would otherwise be blocked from using.
Le's network also included financial links to the Chinese military, including investments in a cybersecurity subsidiary of one of Beijing's most prominent military-technology developers.
Peter Mattis, a former CIA counterintelligence analyst, told the Times that China's spy agency has increasingly focused on technology as Beijing views AI supremacy as "the key fight for dominance in the economic world." Between 2015 and 2023, the ministry expanded its cyber operations and widened its spy network through aggressive recruitment, the newspaper reported, citing researchers and US officials, and it has used its ties to Chinese companies to conduct hacking, espionage, and intelligence gathering.
