Nvidia Spy Report: China Calls Jensen Huang Allegation 'Groundless'

China's foreign ministry on Oct. 30 rejected a New York Times report that US intelligence officials suspect a Chinese executive close to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang of passing information to Beijing, calling it "groundless speculation" and an attempt to smear China.

Spokesman Guo Jiakun made the remark at a regular briefing, according to AFP. The Times report, published on Oct. 29, is the one Voltgrid covered that day in our earlier story on Nvidia's reaction. It has not been confirmed by any US agency on the record. The White House, the CIA and the National Security Agency declined to comment to the Times, BusinessKorea reported.

Huang says the dealings were normal

Huang addressed the matter in an interview with Bloomberg News, which Reuters summarized on Oct. 29. He called Nvidia's business with Singapore-based Megaspeed International "normal and not unusual." He said Nvidia had checked that Megaspeed did not illegally divert its AI chips to China: "We've studied all their deployments of our GPUs and counted every one," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Huang also said his interactions with the executive were typical of his dealings with Chinese customers and executives, and that she no longer works at Megaspeed, according to Reuters and BusinessKorea. The executive is Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, who AFP noted is no relation to Jensen Huang. She did not respond to the Times' requests for comment.

What the Times reported, and what Nvidia and Megaspeed said

Per the Times, as relayed by BusinessKorea, US intelligence agencies assessed Alice Huang as an intelligence asset relaying information to Beijing, though the report did not say what she allegedly passed on. Officials reportedly concluded that Jensen Huang was likely unaware of any such role, while some senior Trump administration officials questioned that. President Donald Trump was reportedly briefed about a year ago and took no action. Officials also reportedly held back a "defensive briefing" for Huang to avoid exposing the surveillance.

Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo told the Times that Jensen Huang's interactions with Alice Huang "are not unusual or unexpected" and that he talks with thousands of customer executives every year. Nvidia also said earlier claims that Megaspeed diverted chips were thoroughly investigated and debunked last year. That is Nvidia's own characterization. The Chinese Embassy in Washington had earlier called the allegations "groundless smears and slanders." Megaspeed told the Times it had retained outside counsel for an internal investigation and would cooperate with the US government.

Why the export-control angle matters

The personal allegations are not the part that touches the chip supply chain. The Times, as relayed by BusinessKorea, said a Malaysian affiliate of a Megaspeed sister company bought at least $4.8 billion of AI equipment containing Nvidia chips between June 2024 and February 2026. It also reported that a US Commerce Department field investigation found some of that equipment still in its original packaging. Those claims are reported and unconfirmed by any agency. Megaspeed is described as a cloud partner that buys Nvidia chips and leases computing capacity to Chinese companies.

The open question for the supply chain is how closely accelerators sold to regional cloud customers are tracked once they leave Nvidia. Huang says Nvidia counted every Megaspeed deployment of its GPUs, and no US agency has publicly said whether it agrees. BusinessKorea wrote that the allegations are likely to draw more attention to US-China tension over semiconductor export controls ahead of Trump's planned visit to China next month.

What is not confirmed yet

No US government body has publicly confirmed the intelligence assessment, and the Times based its account on unnamed officials. Nothing in the coverage says Jensen Huang knew of any intelligence activity. What information, if any, was passed on is unreported, and the Commerce Department's findings on Megaspeed have not been published.