Jensen Huang’s affair with alleged Chinese spy puts Nvidia’s China ambitions under scrutiny

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has acknowledged an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed, one of the chipmaker's customers. The Financial Times reported the relationship on Friday; Huang admitted to it and apologized to the company in a memo on Sunday.

U.S. intelligence officials believe Alice Huang was recruited by Chinese intelligence to gather information about the CEO and to influence Nvidia's push to loosen American export restrictions on AI chips. The company's independent directors are conducting an investigation with outside legal counsel, and Congress is already demanding answers.

The timing is awkward for a business that has long leaned on China. Nvidia recorded $7.9 billion in revenue from customers headquartered there in the three months ended July 26, about 8% of the total — a figure that has declined as U.S. controls tightened and Beijing pressed for homegrown alternatives.

Huang has spent years making the opposite case to Washington. He met repeatedly with President Donald Trump and administration officials last year, after which the government reversed restrictions on the H20 and permitted shipments of the more powerful H200. He has called export controls a "failure," said in May that building two separate AI ecosystems was "not wise," and argued that locking Nvidia out would help China develop chips that challenge it worldwide.

China is already pressing ahead. Reuters reported last week that roughly 600,000 H200 chips are being held in Hong Kong pending shipment to the mainland, while Beijing urges AI firms to favor domestic suppliers. Huang's lobbying for greater China access predates the pair's reported meeting at an Nvidia event in early 2024, and his public arguments for market access have long predated the relationship.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly warned officials close to Trump earlier this year about the relationship. The open questions now: whether Nvidia's investigation clears Huang of sharing information, and whether he can still convince Washington that the company can responsibly do business with China without tainting its assurances that sensitive technology won't reach unauthorized buyers.