US intelligence suspects Nvidia CEO had relationship with alleged Chinese spy

The US intelligence community believes Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang had a romantic relationship with a Chinese woman suspected of spying for Beijing, the Financial Times (FT) has reported.

According to the report, US officials prepared a memo earlier this year, based on information gathered by American intelligence agencies, alleging that Huang had been romantically involved with Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based customer of the US chipmaker.

The US intelligence community believes Alice Huang was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security, the country's main intelligence agency, to gather information, people familiar with the memo told the FT.

The memo was reportedly shared with a small group of senior US officials shortly before President Donald Trump travelled to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The White House and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) declined to comment on the report.

Nvidia also declined to comment on the memo or the allegations concerning its chief executive. The company has previously said that Huang meets "thousands of customer executives every year".

Photographs and videos purportedly showing Huang with the Megaspeed executive have also circulated on social media.

The allegations have drawn political attention in Washington. Chris Coons, a Democratic senator from Delaware who is set to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from January, on Saturday pledged to investigate what he described as the "insane relationship between the Trump Administration, Chinese spies, and AI billionaires".

"Congress will investigate and get answers," Coons wrote on X.

Alice Huang could not be reached for comment.

Megaspeed under US scrutiny

The allegations come amid growing US scrutiny of Megaspeed over claims that the company smuggled advanced Nvidia chips into China in violation of American export controls.

Nvidia previously conducted an internal investigation into the allegations but concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.

Megaspeed was spun off from a Chinese gaming company in 2023. The US government has been investigating several companies, particularly in Southeast Asia, suspected of helping China obtain advanced semiconductor technology in breach of export restrictions.

The scrutiny has intensified as Washington and Beijing compete for dominance in artificial intelligence (AI), with US national security officials concerned that access to advanced chips could accelerate China's military modernisation.

Huang's ties with Trump administration under scrutiny

The FT report follows a separate development in which senior Republican lawmakers asked Huang to appear privately before the House committees on China, foreign affairs and intelligence.

The lawmakers want to question him about a New York Times report that US intelligence agencies had concluded he was the target of a Chinese spying operation. They also seek details about the security protocols maintained by Nvidia.

Huang has previously lobbied Trump to allow Nvidia to export its H200 chips to Chinese customers, drawing private frustration from US national security officials.

The Nvidia chief has held several meetings with Trump since the president began his second term in 2025.

During Trump's May visit to China for a summit with Xi, Huang was initially excluded from the group of business executives travelling aboard Air Force One. Trump later called him, and Huang flew to Alaska to join the presidential aircraft during a stopover.

In September, Huang attended a state dinner hosted by Trump for Xi during the Chinese president's visit to the United States.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.