What Do We Know about Nvidia’s Alleged “Spy”?
Internal messages reveal that Jensen Huang misled senior company executives about the nature of his relationship with Alice Huang, who faces suspicions of spying for China and investigations linked to exports of Nvidia servers and chips. Beijing denies the allegations, and no conclusive evidence has established them.
Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, also known as Huang Li, has emerged at the centre of one of the technology sector’s most controversial cases. Media reports revealed her relationship with former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang as US authorities suspected that she might have been spying for Beijing. The revelations coincide with investigations involving a Singaporean technology company that had been a business partner of the US chipmaker.
Alice Huang had a long career in China’s financial sector before moving into technology and cloud computing. She became a senior executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International, which was a Nvidia business partner in the Asia-Pacific region.
Her relationship with Jensen Huang became the focus of media scrutiny and internal investigations after he acknowledged an extramarital affair. Reuters revealed that he had given several senior Nvidia executives misleading information about his interactions with Alice Huang, describing them as routine business dealings with a customer.
Jensen Huang and Alice Huang are not related, despite sharing a surname.
An Extramarital Affair and Internal Messages That Misled Nvidia Executives
The Financial Times reported on November 6 that Alice Huang had been involved in an affair with Jensen Huang. On November 8, he issued a statement acknowledging an extramarital relationship without naming Alice Huang.
Reuters authenticated photographs showing the pair together on various occasions over more than two years, with the earliest dating to December 2023. The images place them together in the United States, China and elsewhere. It remains unclear when their relationship became intimate.
On November 14, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter and internal communications it had reviewed, that Jensen Huang had misled several Nvidia leaders about the nature of his relationship with Alice Huang. They included the company’s general counsel, Tim Teter, and chief marketing officer, Alison Wagonfeld.
The agency reviewed several messages exchanged in October 2026 on condition that it would not quote them verbatim, becoming the first news outlet to report on the communications.
The two sources, who requested anonymity, said that in autumn 2025 and again in October 2026, press inquiries had drawn some Nvidia executives’ attention to Jensen Huang’s dealings with Megaspeed and Alice Huang. On both occasions, he described his interactions with them as appropriate.
In two separate messages in October 2026, Huang told company officials, including Teter and Wagonfeld, that his interactions with Alice Huang were part of normal customer business dealings. In other messages, he also emphasised the routine nature of his interactions with Megaspeed.
Reuters did not review the 2025 communications, only the messages exchanged in October 2026.
The two sources said Jensen Huang had also discussed taking legal action against The New York Times after the newspaper published an article in October 2025 highlighting his public meetings with Alice Huang.
They said that article prompted Huang to contact some Nvidia leaders in 2025 about his interactions with her, but he did not describe the relationship as an extramarital affair at the time.
Ultimately, neither Nvidia nor Jensen Huang sued the newspaper. A New York Times spokesperson said the publication had received no legal demand.
Last week, The New York Times also reported that Jensen Huang had engaged in an extramarital affair with a Nvidia employee. On Thursday, Reuters reported another intimate relationship involving a different employee.
On November 10, Nvidia’s independent directors announced that they had engaged a Wall Street law firm to conduct an independent investigation. The decision followed reports by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal about Jensen Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang and US authorities’ suspicions that she had been spying for China.
Espionage Suspicions and Intelligence Shared with Trump
Several media outlets, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, reported that US authorities and officials from other governments suspected Alice Huang of spying for Beijing.
On November 10, The New York Times reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had overseen the preparation of a classified memorandum in spring 2026 containing intelligence indicating that China’s Ministry of State Security had recruited Alice Huang to target Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang.
The newspaper said Rubio briefed President Donald Trump on the intelligence aboard Air Force One during his trip to China in May 2026. The intelligence concerned Jensen Huang’s relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper added that this was at least the second time in seven months that Trump had received intelligence about the case.
Reuters could not confirm the warnings reportedly delivered to Trump. It also did not verify allegations published by The New York Times and other outlets that Alice Huang had spied for China.
On November 9, Trump said the FBI was examining the espionage allegations, adding that Jensen Huang had told him he had been unaware of them. Trump also said he had not needed to act on the intelligence he had received.
In an interview with Bloomberg published on October 29, Jensen Huang said the US government had not informed him of its suspicions about Alice Huang.
On November 12, US Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department had not yet reached a conclusion on whether Alice Huang was a Chinese spy.
CNN reported that same day that US intelligence officials were still working to understand the nature of the relationship between Jensen Huang and Alice Huang. People familiar with the matter told the network that there was disagreement over the strength of the evidence that she had been recruited to spy for Beijing.
Reuters has not independently established whether Alice Huang worked for the Chinese government. Beijing has denied that she is a spy.
Passport Seizure and Singapore’s Investigation
Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs disclosed on November 12 that it had seized Alice Huang’s passport in 2025 while investigating other suspected offences. These included purchases of servers exported through Singapore to Malaysia without entering the Singaporean market.
The ministry said there was insufficient evidence to establish that Alice Huang had committed any offences.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had received limited assistance from the United States in an investigation launched in 2025 into false declarations involving server purchases and other related offences.
It added that Alice Huang left Singapore in February 2026 and was barred from returning following the Singaporean investigation.
These inquiries constitute a separate line of investigation concerning server purchases and exports. They do not, in themselves, establish wrongdoing by Alice Huang, as the Singaporean authorities expressly stated that the evidence was insufficient.
Megaspeed and Nvidia Chip Sales to China
Alice Huang became the controlling shareholder of Singapore-based cloud computing company Megaspeed International in March 2023, according to Washington-based research organisation C4ADS, which reviewed corporate records.
Megaspeed was a Nvidia business partner in the Asia-Pacific region. It later attracted US authorities’ attention over its dealings involving advanced artificial intelligence chips.
In October 2025, The New York Times reported that the company was under US investigation over whether it was helping Chinese customers obtain advanced Nvidia chips subject to Washington’s export controls.
China denied the allegation. No public ruling has established that Megaspeed violated US export regulations.
Last week, The Information reported that Jensen Huang’s ties to Alice Huang had facilitated at least $7.5 billion in Nvidia chip sales to China.
On November 12, Megaspeed said it had cooperated with US inquiries.
The investigation into the company coincided with questions about the nature of Alice Huang’s relationship with Jensen Huang and its potential connection to commercial dealings between Nvidia and Megaspeed.
Her Career in Finance and the Media
Before moving into technology and cloud computing, Alice Huang worked in banking and investment management, according to Chinese fund industry records and a profile indexed in the private fund database Simuwang.
The database also indicated that she had previously worked in television journalism.
She held senior positions at Shanghai Hexi Investment Management, a Chinese investment company based in Shanghai.
Financial records, corporate disclosures and company materials reviewed by Reuters show that she held senior roles at a Shanghai-based investment firm before joining Megaspeed, where she became a senior executive.
Jensen Huang’s Resignation and the Fallout for Nvidia
Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia’s chief executive on Thursday, marking a dramatic fall from the top of an industry in which he had been a leading figure. The company’s technologies have played a central role in the artificial intelligence boom of recent years.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Huang apologised for being unfaithful to his wife and letting the company down, without specifically naming Alice Huang.
Reuters had reported that Alice Huang was a former senior executive at Megaspeed International, a Nvidia customer, and that US authorities were investigating whether she had spied for China.
Meanwhile, Nvidia shares have fallen more than 30 per cent from their closing peak on October 6, wiping more than $1.8 trillion from the company’s market value.
Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter did not respond to a request for comment. Chief marketing officer Alison Wagonfeld had also not responded to a similar request. A representative for Jensen Huang and a Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment.
Reuters likewise received no response to a telephone call and an email sent to contact details listed on Alice Huang’s business card. Its other attempts to reach her were also unsuccessful.
