US intelligence can't prove Alice Huang spied on Nvidia for China
US Intel isn't sure if Alice Huang spied on Nvidia for China
US intelligence agencies remain divided over whether Alice Huang, the Chinese businesswoman who had an affair with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to spy on him. The FBI has investigated for at least a year, but the DOJ and President Trump say no conclusion has been reached. Meanwhile, Huang's Singapore-based firm Megaspeed, a major Nvidia chip buyer, was under investigation for diverting restricted chips to China — raising questions about why regulators never placed it on the entity list.
A lot of these people are guilty of just being Chinese.
- A_D_E_P_T
It sounds to me like she could simply have been a high-level smuggler: A profit-seeker, running deals, moving freight illegally (or at least in flagrant violation of contract) through Singapore and Malaysia to China, and taking chances. I mean, it certainly looks as though she did all of that.
In this narrow case, it's highly likely that she took money from the Chinese government -- which is not to say their intelligence agencies, but rather the tech funds and other national/regional government bodies that directly invest in important/strategic ventures. Almost all Chinese tech and manufacturing firms take .gov money. The Chinese government is very very good at supporting development.
What's indeed far from clear is whether she was working for any Chinese intelligence agency directly. Jensen was a China dove, and his fall from grace hurts China in the near term. It'll be interesting to see what shakes out.
- jm4
This looks like an administration in trouble trying to downplay the whole thing and muddy the waters. Sadly, it's what we've come to expect from this group. Whatever the real story is, we won't get it from them. We need an independent investigation.
- FlyingBears
This looks like US intelligence agencies decided to drag Jensen through mud for some reason to have such reversal. This is generally done in cahoots with an interested business party ala Heinz taking out competitors via FDA policing quality.
What Nvidia employees need to do is strike and walkout until he is reinstated.
- dofm
They rarely ever are sure are they? Intelligence is all about risks.
It is clearly, clearly enough that it looked a lot like she could be (and it does!)
- insane_dreamer
I don't that "spying" is the right word here. My understanding is more that she likely influenced Jensen to push for sale of AI chips to China (which he did) and that her SG company may have acted as a middleman for the chips getting to China.
That's not "spying" is the traditional sense (stealing secrets).