Nvidia has rejected a recent New York Times story that claimed a Chinese intelligence asset tried to obtain information from CEO Jensen Huang, saying the diversion allegations were "thoroughly investigated and debunked last year."
The Times article, published Thursday, said U.S. spy agencies uncovered that Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data-center firm Megaspeed, passed information to Beijing while developing a "close relationship" with Nvidia's chief executive.
According to the report, President Trump was briefed on the intelligence about a year ago but took no further action, reportedly because he was reluctant to disrupt Nvidia's chip sales and the broader U.S.–China trade relationship.
Huang, a known Trump ally, has been steering Nvidia through a delicate trade war with China for roughly eighteen months. While the United States has barred most advanced AI-related technology sales to Beijing, the Trump administration permitted Nvidia to sell some older AI chips to China last year.
Anonymous sources with knowledge of the surveillance told the Times that U.S. officials were uneasy about Alice Huang's connection to the Nvidia CEO and questioned whether she might be gathering information about the company.
"The diversion allegations against this regional cloud were thoroughly investigated and debunked last year," a Nvidia spokesperson said to The Hill.
The spokesperson added that Jensen Huang's interactions with Ms. Huang were "not unusual or unexpected" and that Megaspeed is similar to many other regional cloud customers, noting that CEOs regularly meet thousands of client executives each year.
He emphasized that Nvidia's regional cloud customers receive only "ordinary business information" and not "sensitive Nvidia trade secrets and zero information relevant to national security."
The Times reported that Huang has not been given a defense briefing. The Nvidia representative said the company is confident that if the U.S. government considered anyone a threat to American industry, it would be notified.
"We often receive updates from the U.S. government regarding parties and entities of concern and always act accordingly," the spokesperson said. Anonymous sources said companies linked to Megaspeed's Huang have continued purchasing Nvidia chips. The Hill sought comment from Megaspeed.
After years of export controls on the United States' most advanced AI chips and related materials, China has pursued self-reliance through firms like Huawei. Nvidia's spokesperson noted that the PRC government is not seeking Nvidia products from regional clouds, adding that the Chinese government blocked U.S. AI chips, protecting its own industry and causing the largest write-offs in U.S. tech history.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
