A suspected spy, a high-profile affair and the billionaire tech bro at the heart of the Nvidia scandal
Billionaire Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to having an affair with a woman suspected of being a spy feeding information to Beijing.
The 63-year-old, currently ranked as the eighth richest man in the world by Forbes, has apologised for being unfaithful to his wife and said he takes “full responsibility” for his actions.
Nvidia is reported to have sold nearly $5bn in AI chips to Megaspeed, the Singapore-based computing company where his lover Alice Huang previously worked as managing director.
The board of his AI chipmaking company has now opened an independent investigation into reports that Huang has “been the target of a foreign intelligence effort”.
It comes amid the ongoing rivalry between China and the US as they remain locked in a race for AI development.
Below, The Independent looks at the key players in the still-developing scandal.
US intelligence officials believe Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, to be a spy working for the Chinese government.
Huang, who is no relation to the Nvidia CEO despite having the same name, is a former executive at the Singapore-based data centre and cloud computing firm, Megaspeed International.
It is unclear when the pair’s affair began, but pictures of the two at a Taipei bar in 2024 have since been published in the New York Post.
The New York Times reports that it was around this time that Megaspeed began a multibillion-dollar purchase of advanced AI microchips, which to many in the industry appeared to come out of nowhere.
The pair was also seen leaving a Taipei restaurant in May 2025. In livestreams during this period, she can be seen wearing a pink dress and apparently kissing him on the cheek.
According to AFP, online searches reveal Huang’s previous jobs include working at HSBC and as a journalist at Chinese media outlets CCTV and Hunan TV. However, the news agency notes it is unable to verify the information.
The New York Times reported that a memo circulating among top policymakers last year cited intelligence that a Chinese businesswoman affiliated with Huang was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security.
The outlet said that Huang speaks good English and has connections at the highest levels of the AI industry. Megaspeed is reportedly building data centres in Southeast Asia and then renting this computing power to Chinese internet firm Alibaba, which is akin to the country’s Amazon.
