US Believes Woman Close to Nvidia CEO Was a China Spy, NYT Says

(Bloomberg) -- US intelligence officials told the Trump administration that a woman who had become close to Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang was working for a Chinese spy agency, which recruited her to collect information on him, the New York Times reported Friday.

The newspaper cited unnamed sources who it said had been told of American surveillance conducted on the woman, Alice Huang, an executive with an Asian technology company called Megaspeed International. Administration officials learned of the accusations in an intelligence memo, the Times said.

Alice Huang was working for Beijing's Ministry of State Security, which was maneuvering to glean more detail about American artificial intelligence chips, according to the Times, and possibly persuade Nvidia to try to make its most sophisticated semiconductors available to the Chinese.

It was not clear when or how she met Jensen Huang.

Earlier: Nvidia CEO Pressed by US Lawmakers Over Tie to Firm in Spy Probe

The case has taken on new urgency following this week's US midterm elections, which will give Democrats control of Congress. Republicans also are scrutinizing Huang's ties to the alleged spy.

The House Select Committee on China said in a statement on Thursday that it had sent a letter to Jensen Huang "requesting his participation in a joint, closed-door briefing."

"The letter details the lawmakers' concerns regarding Huang's interactions with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, a publicly reported Chinese intelligence asset, and the company's security protocols against foreign adversary espionage," the panel said in the statement.

Megaspeed is part of Nvidia's cloud partner network. The Singapore-based company buys equipment from the chipmaker and rents out computing power to AI developers.

Nvidia said in a statement after the Times article was published that its cloud partners "do not ask us to seek changes in US law or advocate for sales to China." The company added that "anyone seeking classified information through our NCP customers would have hit a dead end. We neither have nor share classified information with customers."

The Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday evening.