Alice Huang: alleged spy at center of Nvidia CEO affair scandal

Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a businesswoman accused by U.S. intelligence of being an operative for China’s Ministry of State Security, allegedly recruited to influence Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to make advanced microchips more accessible in China. The allegations, reported by the New York Times, have sparked investigations in Taiwan and Singapore. Huang worked in Chinese finance, including at HSBC and CITIC Securities, before becoming a senior executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, an Nvidia cloud partner, in 2023. She became controlling shareholder of Megaspeed that year but was removed from official records by November 2023, though a short seller report claimed she remained involved in operations. Megaspeed, originally incorporated in 2015 as 7Road International, has faced scrutiny over alleged circumvention of U.S. export restrictions on Nvidia chips to China, which it denies. Beijing has dismissed the spy allegations as smears, while Singapore authorities are investigating Megaspeed but have not opened probes into Huang.