Nvidia chief Jensen Huang’s affair with a woman whom US intelligence agencies reportedly believe was working for China has intensified scrutiny of his dealings with Beijing and his campaign for greater access to the Chinese market.
Huang admitted in a memo to staff that he had been “unfaithful” to his wife after reports described a romantic relationship with Alice Huang, who is not related to the Nvidia chief. “There is no excuse for what I did,” he wrote. “I am deeply sorry.”
Nvidia’s board has appointed a committee of independent directors, supported by external legal advisers, to examine whether company secrets or national security were compromised. The board said it had so far found “no reason to believe” that either had happened, while Huang remains chief executive and has pledged to co-operate fully.
Nvidia’s China business under scrutiny
US officials reportedly suspect Alice Huang was working for China’s Ministry of State Security. She was an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data centre operator that has become one of Nvidia’s largest customers in the past two years.
A Malaysian affiliate of Megaspeed bought at least $4.8 billion of equipment containing Nvidia chips between June 2024 and February 2026, according to reports. US officials have examined the company since 2024 over suspicions that it helped Chinese businesses bypass export controls.
It is also suspected that major Chinese artificial intelligence companies have obtained access to large clusters of Nvidia’s advanced chips despite the restrictions, either through smuggling operations or data centres in other Asian countries accessed through front companies.
Nvidia has previously described Huang’s dealings with Alice Huang as routine. A company spokesman said the allegations would not disrupt the business and that Huang was “committed to continuing to lead NVIDIA as CEO without interruption”.
Megaspeed did not respond to requests for comment, while Alice Huang could not be reached. China’s foreign ministry dismissed the allegations as “pure groundless speculation and slander”.
The revelations have also brought renewed attention to comments Huang made during an interview in October, before reports about the alleged intelligence connection emerged. He said Nvidia believed there was a “large and growing” opportunity in China and that the company “could be of great service” to the country.
“I think the opportunity in China is large and growing, just like the AI market across the world is large and growing,” Huang said. “We could be of great service to the local market. We can compete and win as much of the AI market as possible for the United States, while also providing compute resources, which is really important to their economy.”
Huang said there would be a “natural tension” between Washington and Beijing that would “last a long time”. Nvidia has not included China in its revenue forecasts since August 2025, citing regulatory uncertainty in both countries.
The United States has prohibited Nvidia from selling its most advanced artificial intelligence chips to China on national security grounds, while permitting exports of older or specially modified products designed to be less capable of training frontier AI models. Beijing has separately sought to discourage major Chinese technology companies from buying Nvidia chips in an effort to support domestic alternatives.
Nvidia’s access to China has narrowed since export controls were introduced by the Biden administration in 2022. In October 2025, Huang said the company’s share of the Chinese market had fallen from 95 per cent to zero.
President Trump reversed some of those restrictions in December 2025, allowing Nvidia to sell H200 chips, designed to comply with US export rules, to approved Chinese customers. The US government was to receive 25 per cent of the proceeds, following months of lobbying by Huang, including a meeting with Mr Trump.
Republican chairmen of three House committees have asked Huang to attend a private briefing after Nvidia reports its quarterly earnings next week. Lawmakers are expected to question whether his efforts to expand the company’s business in China have placed US interests at risk.
Huang has previously argued that Nvidia could prioritise American customers while competing overseas. “The United States recognises that because the technology is invented in the United States, and we’re an American company, we should provide, and we do provide, the best, the soonest and the most to American companies. However, we should compete,” he said.
