China recruited Singapore-based executive to spy on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang: US intelligence

[WASHINGTON] A memo that circulated among top policymakers in the Trump administration last spring cited intelligence that a Chinese businessperson who had a close relationship with Nvidia’s CEO was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security, according to people briefed on the intelligence.

The businessperson, Alice Huang, was recruited to collect intelligence on Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, as part of a drive by Beijing’s top spy agency to learn more about US AI chips and potentially influence the company to push for its most advanced chips to be made available to China, the people said.

Huang is an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based customer of Nvidia.

Jensen Huang, an influential ally of President Donald Trump’s, is a pivotal figure in the intense global competition for AI supremacy. Nvidia’s advanced chips are sought after around the world, and the company’s growth has helped drive the stock market over the past several years.

The existence of the memo and the assessment by US officials that Alice Huang was working directly for the main Chinese intelligence agency have not previously been reported. They add important new detail to what appears to be an especially audacious example of China’s long-standing industrial espionage efforts.

China’s interest in Jensen Huang, and precisely what Beijing hoped to achieve by having one of its intelligence assets begin a close relationship with the executive, have been a focus of US spy agencies. Those questions are now also of interest to Capitol Hill.

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On Thursday (Nov 5), the Republican leaders of three influential US House committees requested that Jensen Huang appear before them later in November in a closed-door briefing regarding his interactions with Alice Huang, who is not related.

The New York Times reported on Oct 29 that Jensen Huang was a target of a Chinese intelligence operation, and that US intelligence agencies were conducting electronic surveillance of Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen, for at least a year.

John Rizzo, a Nvidia spokesperson, said that the company does not share classified information with its customers, and that customers do not ask Nvidia to press the US government to change its policies on chip sales to China.

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Rizzo has maintained that Jensen Huang’s interactions with Alice Huang were “not unusual” and consistent with the kinds of meetings he has with any of Nvidia’s many customers.

Liu Chang, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy, said the Times reporting was “unsubstantiated” and “nothing but smears against China.” NYTIMES