BEIJING — China on Wednesday rejected allegations that its intelligence services targeted Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang, dismissing claims of an espionage plot as baseless slander.
"The narrative of a so-called Chinese spy is entirely baseless vilification and smearing," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during a press briefing in Beijing.
Beijing's pushback follows Nvidia's board initiating an independent inquiry into whether foreign operatives targeted Huang through a liaison with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data center operator Megaspeed. United States authorities suspect that China’s Ministry of State Security recruited Alice Huang to cultivate ties with the semiconductor chief and gather intelligence on the company’s operations.
The stakes run high across the global chip trade. Megaspeed purchases advanced artificial intelligence processors from Nvidia and has faced scrutiny from investigators over whether it acted as a conduit to bypass export bans and funnel restricted silicon to Chinese entities. Nvidia remains the dominant architect of high-end graphics processors powering the global artificial intelligence boom, placing its leadership squarely in the crosshairs of geopolitical intelligence operations.
Jensen Huang confirmed an extramarital relationship in an internal memo to Nvidia staff, issuing an apology to his family and colleagues while declining to name the individual. Following that disclosure, Nvidia’s board stated it found no immediate evidence that company intellectual property or national security secrets had leaked. Huang has backed the independent inquiry and pledged full cooperation.
Federal authorities continue to track export compliance around Megaspeed's hardware transactions, while Nvidia's independent board review will examine executive correspondence and security logs to determine whether corporate systems or proprietary product roadmaps were exposed.