Woman at centre of Nvidia spy scandal pitched GPU deal to investors

Key Points

1. Alice Huang sought funds for a Southeast Asia data centre, touting guaranteed access to Nvidia GPUs.
2. US officials allege she was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security and romantically involved with Jensen Huang.
3. Nvidia shares fell 5% as its board opened an investigation into the reports.

The latest:

The woman at the centre of the Nvidia espionage allegations pitched a Southeast Asia data centre project worth several hundred million dollars to China-based investors in early 2025, telling them she could secure the chipmaker’s GPUs and naming Alibaba as a client, the Financial Times reported. Alice Huang made no mention of any close relationship with Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang during the pitch.

Details:

• The pitch: Alice Huang and business partner Kang Wei sought investment for the data centre project in early 2025, according to two investors who were pitched on the deal. One investor present said the pair described having “no problem securing GPUs” as a key pillar of the plan and cited Alibaba as a customer.
• The legal line: Under current US export controls, Chinese companies may legally lease data centre capacity outside the country, but Chinese ownership of those assets, which consist mostly of advanced Nvidia GPUs, is not permitted, according to the Financial Times.
• The allegation: US officials wrote a memo this year, based on US intelligence, saying Jensen Huang had been romantically involved with Alice Huang, who had been recruited to spy for China’s Ministry of State Security, according to people familiar with the document. The Financial Times said it could not independently verify the espionage allegation.
• Her profile: Alice Huang, whose Chinese name is Huang Le, is a partner at Hexi Private Equity Partners, a fund set up in 2010 that stopped updating annual results in 2022 with many products wound up. She was briefly registered in 2023 as an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer.
• Megaspeed: The company is under investigation in multiple jurisdictions over alleged chip smuggling and has strongly denied any illicit activity involving chips. Its balance sheet grew from $33mn to $3bn through 2024, much of it based on subsidiaries’ dealings.
• The Alibaba link: Company documents show Alibaba, through Singaporean subsidiary Apex Enterprise Solutions, lent money to Megaspeed’s Malaysian unit Speedmatrix in June 2024, with Speedmatrix pledging its entire business as collateral. Two people with knowledge of the matter said Alibaba has been the anchor and largest client of Megaspeed’s Southeast Asia cloud service.
• Nvidia’s response: Jensen Huang admitted on Sunday to having an affair, two days after the Financial Times reported the alleged relationship. Nvidia shares dropped 5% in pre-market trading on Monday after the board said it would open an investigation into the reports.
• Beijing’s denial: China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday the spy allegation was groundless, describing it as smear and defamation. Alice Huang could not be reached by telephone, and her WeChat and email accounts appear to have been deleted.
• The partner: Kang Wei also serves on the board of Guilin Bank, a state-controlled lender whose majority investor is the province’s transportation authority, according to corporate records. He could not be reached by telephone and did not respond to a WeChat request for comment.

Background:

The New York Times first reported that US authorities believed Jensen Huang had been the target of an espionage campaign by Chinese authorities. Nvidia first met Megaspeed to discuss potential procurement after the company showed its leasing contract with Alibaba, one person with knowledge of the matter said.

Between the lines:

The pitch’s two selling points map onto the regulatory boundary the Financial Times describes: GPU access and an Alibaba relationship are precisely what makes offshore capacity valuable to Chinese clients barred from owning the chips. The Financial Times also noted the allegations land after repeated criticism of US authorities for undue suspicion of people with Chinese connections.

What’s next

Watch the Nvidia board’s investigation, the multi-jurisdiction probes into Megaspeed’s alleged chip smuggling, and whether Alibaba responds to questions about its lending to and cloud contracts with the company.