US suspects NVIDIA CEO in romantic relationship with Chinese spy
What's the story
The US government believes Jensen Huang, the CEO of tech giant NVIDIA, had a romantic relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, Financial Times reported. According to US officials who have seen the memo, Alice was allegedly recruited as a spy by China's Ministry of State Security intelligence agency. Megaspeed is based in Singapore and is a client of NVIDIA.
Pre-summit briefing
Memo shared with select US officials before Trump-Xi meeting
The memo detailing Huang's alleged romantic ties was shared with a select group of senior US officials.
This was done just before President Donald Trump visited Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The White House and the CIA have both declined to comment on this matter, leaving many questions unanswered.
Chip controversy
Megaspeed accused of illegally smuggling NVIDIA chips into China
Megaspeed has been accused of illegally smuggling advanced NVIDIA chips into China, violating US export controls.
Despite launching an internal investigation into these allegations, NVIDIA concluded that there was no evidence of wrongdoing.
The company has also defended its CEO against claims of an intimate relationship with Alice Huang, saying he meets "thousands of customer executives every year."
Testimony request
Republican lawmakers demand Huang testify on China allegations
Senior Republican lawmakers have asked Huang to testify privately before House committees on China, foreign affairs, and intelligence.
They want to question him about a New York Times report that US intelligence had concluded he was the target of a Chinese spying operation.
They also want answers about the security protocols maintained by NVIDIA amid these allegations.
Lobbying attempts
Frustration mounts among US national security officials over Huang
US national security officials are said to be frustrated with Huang, who had personally lobbied Trump earlier this year to allow NVIDIA to export its H200 chips to customers in China.
Despite his lobbying efforts, Huang was not among the executives who traveled with Trump on Air Force One during his May visit to China for a summit with Xi.