American spy agencies are concerned that a top executive at a Singapore-based data center company helped China score Nvidia A.I. chips, the New York Times reported. "And now American officials had concluded that she was a Chinese intelligence asset, funneling information to Beijing," the report cautioned.
In a Thursday report, the Times said that the executive, Alice Huang or Huang Le, was being surveilled as she developed a closer relationship with CEO Jensen Huang.
"For years, Washington has worked to deny China the technology needed to match or surpass the United States in the intense global competition for superiority in artificial intelligence," the report said. "The discovery that Beijing was getting reports from someone with direct access to Mr. Huang, one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump’s."
It was enough to set off alarms at the White House.
Huang, or Le, was already under suspicion, the report said. But then surveillance reportedly revealed that she was passing information to Beijing and communicating with Jensen Huang. It's unknown what exactly she passed to him, however.
At first, officials believed Jensen Huang didn't know about her alleged intelligence role. But some administration officials now question whether he could have remained wholly unaware, but the report offers no definitive details.
Jensen Huang was never given a defensive briefing warning him about the alleged threat. The reason given is that protecting ongoing surveillance could explain that decision, although the report could not determine whether it did.
A spokesperson denied that Nvidia has done anything wrong. They claimed that customer meetings happen frequently and that "Megaspeed received no sensitive trade secrets or national security information, and Nvidia had investigated and rejected chip-smuggling allegations," said the report.
Megaspeed said they've hired lawyers and will cooperate with American authorities.
China's embassy called the allegations "groundless smears," the report paraphrased.
The timeline of Huang's rise in Washington intersects with what the spy agencies found. He has been successful in pressuring Trump to back off of chip sales to China.
His company also gave Trump $20 million for his ballroom, a source familiar told the Times..
A Commerce Department investigation begun in late 2024 was transferred to the Justice Department this year. Meanwhile, Megaspeed continues expanding in Southeast Asia.
The significant concern is whether Trump’s commercial and diplomatic priorities weakened any of the safeguards around strategically important technology that the U.S. would normally be protecting.
Meanwhile, the CEO must figure out if a Chinese spy scored access and information from one of Trump's most influential corporate allies.
