Trump backs Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as FBI examines alleged Chinese spy link

Trump backs Huang as FBI examines the case

On Monday, 9 November, Donald Trump defended Jensen Huang, the co-founder and chief executive of Nvidia, against reports that he had a relationship with a woman said to have worked for China. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said he had been surprised by the allegations and had spoken with Huang that day. He said Huang had told him he had no idea the woman was a spy, and Trump said he believed him. Asked when he had learned of the investigations, Trump said he had heard and read about some things, without giving a date. He also confirmed that the FBI is examining the matter, without giving details on its scope or when it began, and predicted that everything would turn out well for Huang.

The allegations and the relationship

The New York Times reported that US officials believe Alice Huang, who also goes by Huang Le in Chinese, worked as a spy for Beijing. She is a former executive of Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data centre company, and is not related to Jensen Huang. According to a classified memo reported by the New York Times and the Financial Times, China's Ministry of State Security recruited her with two goals: to gather sensitive information about the Nvidia chief executive and to influence the company's decisions so that advanced AI chips would keep flowing to China. Intelligence services reportedly recorded secret meetings between the pair in Shanghai, Hong Kong, California and Taipei. Their relationship first became public in June 2024, when a photo showed her beside him at a Taipei bar with executives from Gigabyte and NetThunder, and the New York Times reported that Megaspeed began large purchases of advanced AI chips around that time.

The New York Times also reported that Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, sent a memo to senior officials in Washington in spring 2025 warning that Huang maintained a close relationship with a woman considered a spy.

Huang's admission and Nvidia's response

On Sunday, 8 November, Huang admitted in a message to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife, and he later published an open letter on the company website apologizing to his wife and to Nvidia. He did not name the woman in either message. In the letter he said he supports the investigation and will cooperate fully. Nvidia has assigned an independent investigation into the relationship and said it has no reason to believe corporate secrets or national security have been compromised. Huang has held the chief executive role since he co-founded the company in 1993, and Nvidia is the second most valuable company in the world after Apple, according to one report.

Share losses and a shareholder lawsuit

Nvidia shares fell 4.3% on Monday, 9 November, according to one report, while another said they dropped more than 4%. The reported loss in market value is about $190 billion (169 billion euros) in one account and about $250 billion in another, and the sources do not reconcile the two figures. Five minutes after the market closed on Monday, shareholders filed a class action in federal court in San Jose, California, alleging that Nvidia and Huang failed to disclose national security issues that could damage the company's reputation and business. The complaint focuses on the alleged contacts with the woman, whom the filing describes as under suspicion of acting for Beijing's intelligence services. One report said Huang's message to employees did not mention his alleged relationship with Alice Huang.

Washington and Beijing react

Republican leaders of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and China committees have asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing in the week of 16 November. Several Republicans have framed the matter as a national security issue tied to AI chips, adding to a dispute that has spread through the party this week over issues including the war in Iran and immigration after the midterm elections. China's foreign ministry called the accusations completely groundless, a product of speculation aimed at defaming and slandering China. A planned trilateral summit of the United States, China and Russia, on the margins of the Asia-Pacific summit in Shenzhen in the week of 16 November, now faces a shadow from the affair. Huang has been asked to attend the closed-door session, and no date for it beyond the week of 16 November has been reported.