U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that a Chinese businesswoman with close ties to Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang was gathering information for Beijing, The New York Times reported, raising questions about security risks surrounding the chipmaker's overseas customers and access to Washington.
President Donald Trump was briefed on the findings about a year ago but chose not to act, according to the newspaper. The report, based on unnamed people familiar with classified briefings, said Trump was concerned about disrupting Nvidia's sales and complicating relations with China.
The businesswoman, Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a Chinese citizen and senior executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed. The company buys Nvidia equipment and supplies computing power to Chinese businesses, including Alibaba.
Nvidia disputed suggestions that its relationship with Megaspeed was improper. A spokesman told the Times that Jensen Huang's interactions with Alice Huang were "not unusual or unexpected" and reflected his responsibility to meet customers.
BREAKING: #USA intelligence officials assess that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is the focus of a Chinese espionage operation. Authorities identify Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive observed alongside Huang in Taiwan, as a suspected Chinese intelligence asset. President #Trump has been briefed on the matter. — Crypto News (@News_crypto) October 29, 2026
The company said Megaspeed receives routine business information rather than sensitive trade secrets. It also said it believed the government would alert Nvidia to any threat.
According to the Times, intelligence officials initially did not believe Jensen Huang knew of Alice Huang's alleged role. Some senior administration officials questioned that assessment, but the report did not establish that he knowingly assisted a foreign intelligence operation.
Huang has not received the formal defensive briefing sometimes provided to Americans believed to have been targeted by foreign intelligence services, the newspaper reported. Surveillance of Alice Huang remains underway.
The alleged intelligence connection emerged from scrutiny of Megaspeed's semiconductor dealings. Officials already suspected the company of helping China obtain advanced Nvidia chips when surveillance revealed Alice Huang's contacts with an American citizen.
An intelligence procedure known as unmasking subsequently identified that person as Jensen Huang, according to the Times. The report did not indicate that the two are related.
Megaspeed said it took the allegations seriously and had retained outside lawyers to conduct an internal investigation.
The company's equipment purchases have separately attracted scrutiny. Citing trade records, the Times reported that Megaspeed's Malaysian sister company bought at least $4.8 billion in advanced artificial-intelligence equipment containing Nvidia chips between June 2024 and February 2026.
Investigators suspect some chips have reached China illegally. Nvidia says it complies with applicable laws and has found no evidence of smuggling. Megaspeed remains listed as an Nvidia cloud partner, according to the report.
Bloomberg and the Times previously reported that U.S. and Singaporean authorities investigated suspected chip smuggling involving Megaspeed in 2025. The Times said the Commerce Department's investigation was transferred to the Justice Department this year.
The revelations also put attention on Huang's influence within the Trump administration. The Nvidia chief has successfully advocated easing AI regulations and restrictions on chip sales to China, the Times reported.
Current and former officials told the newspaper that Huang's relationship with Trump had slowed efforts to impose restrictions on Nvidia, with some investigations and proposed sanctions stalled.
The Times also reported that Nvidia contributed at least $20 million to Trump's ballroom fund. Huang sat at the head table during last month's state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
