Who is Alice Huang? The alleged spy at center of Nvidia CEO affair scandal

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Singapore-based AI computing company Megaspeed, where Alice Huang was a senior executive, is once again back in the spotlight

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A relationship between the high-profile CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang and a businesswoman suspected of spying for Beijing has sent shockwaves through political and technology circles.

Alice Huang, who worked in Chinese finance before moving into tech with a leadership position at a Singapore data center firm, reportedly maintained a close relationship with the head of the California company whose chips power advanced artificial intelligence systems.

Reporting over the past month by the New York Times revealed that top policymakers received a memo outlining intelligence that Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, was an operative for China’s Ministry of State Security. The intelligence indicated she had been recruited to sway Nvidia into making its top-tier microchips more accessible within China.

A widely shared 2024 photograph, uploaded to LinkedIn by software firm NetThunder, captures Jensen Huang and others holding drinks in Taipei, with Alice Huang seated behind him, seemingly watching him speak.

The precise duration of the affair and the timing of its conclusion remain unknown and Alice Huang couldn’t be reached for comment.

Very little publicly available information exists regarding Alice Huang. She worked as a Chinese finance executive before transitioning into the artificial intelligence, data center, and computer chip sectors.

In 2023, Huang became a director at Singapore-based Megaspeed, a firm that characterizes itself as an "NVIDIA cloud partner." The business faced scrutiny from the U.S. last year over allegations of circumventing U.S. export restrictions and routing significant quantities of advanced Nvidia chips to users in China.

Corporate registration records show Megaspeed was originally incorporated in Singapore in 2015 as 7Road International, functioning as an overseas spin-off for a Chinese video game developer.

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