Nvidia Chief Jensen Huang Seen as Target in Chinese Spy Plot, Report Says
Report details suspected intelligence gathering
The New York Times reported that U.S. officials concluded Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, gained access to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Officials suspected the former executive of collecting intelligence for the Chinese government.
Alice Huang held a leadership position at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud computing company. The company bought Nvidia chips, used them to build data centers and rented out computing power; U.S. agencies have scrutinized the firm, according to the report.
Nvidia describes meetings as routine
Nvidia said Jensen Huang meets with thousands of customer executives annually. The company characterized his meetings with Alice Huang as neither unusual nor unexpected.
Trump was briefed about a year ago
The Times reported that Trump received a briefing on the situation about a year earlier but took no action. At the time, U.S. officials did not believe Jensen Huang knew Alice Huang was gathering intelligence for China. The report said it was unclear whether intelligence officials had changed that assessment.
Key points
- U.S. officials concluded Alice Huang gained access to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, The New York Times reported.
- Alice Huang was a former leader at Singapore-based cloud computing company Megaspeed.
- Nvidia said Jensen Huang’s meetings with Alice Huang were routine among his customer meetings.
- Trump was briefed about a year ago, but officials then did not believe Huang knew of the suspected intelligence gathering.