U.S. intelligence sources reportedly suspected that Alice Huang had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security as a spy, while Singapore suspected she was recruited by Chinese intelligence after starting a relationship with Jensen Huang. It was also reported that U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio had written a highly classified memo regarding the affair and that President Donald Trump had been briefed but chose not to take action. On November 11, 2026, The New York Times reported that he was having a second affair. On November 12, 2026, Huang resigned as Nvidia's CEO, president, and board member, ending his 33 years at the company. Nvidia appointed its chief financial officer, Colette Kress, as interim CEO. Later that day, on November 12, U.S. attorney general Todd Blanche stated that the Justice Department has not yet reached a conclusion regarding whether Alice Huang was acting as a spy for Beijing. On the same day, reporting by CNN stated that the U.S. government has found no proof that Alice Huang was a spy and that the U.S. Intelligence Community was unsure if she was. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs stated that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Alice Huang had committed any offences. The Chinese government denied involvement, dismissing the claims as "groundless speculation".
Prominent Silicon Valley executives, shareholders, and founders have aggressively pushed back against Nvidia’s board. Supporters argue that Huang is an irreplaceable visionary whose removal risks crippling Nvidia's operations and setting back the U.S. in the artificial intelligence race.
Background
Huang had been a major force in shaping the Trump administration's AI policy, lobbying against strict export controls so Nvidia could maximize global chip sales, including to China, while dismissing national security and AI extinction warnings. Major Nvidia customers like OpenAI and Anthropic have favored tighter chip export restrictions to slow down Chinese competitors. Bipartisan national security figures (such as Vivek Chilukuri of CNAS) and members of Trump's cabinet—including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent argued that national security should trump Nvidia's corporate profits and pushed for tighter chip restrictions. Figures like Steve Bannon had protested Huang's influence for over a year, labeling him an "agent of influence of the Chinese Communist Party" and calling for him to be arrested.
Near the end of Donald Trump's first presidency, a growing number of Chinese companies became domiciled in Singapore, a practice termed "Singapore washing" which has since accelerated, spreading to various sectors from critical minerals to tech and biotechnology. With 28 free trade agreements, Singapore was considered a good base to grow markets outside China. Megaspeed is a Singaporean data center firm. The company was incorporated in 2015 as 7Road International, owned by 7Road Holdings, a Chinese investment holding company involved in the video game industry. It grew substantially after President Joe Biden imposed restrictions on the sale of artificial intelligence hardware to China in October 2022. 7Road International changed its name to Megaspeed International in March 2023. The Chinese split off the resulting company, which was sold to Huang Le Limited. In October, 2023 Huang Le ended an eight-month tenure as managing director of Megaspeed, when the company was sold to a Singaporean company owned by Tan Yong Pong, who became Megaspeed's chief executive. Four days after the sale, Megaspeed became an Nvidia Cloud Partner. By 2025, Megaspeed faced a U.S. probe for allegedly diverting Nvidia chips used for AI. In February 2025, Singaporean authorities initiated an investigation into Megaspeed and Alice Huang for allegedly smuggling Nvidia chips into China.
Alleged plot
The New York Times first reported Huang's relationship with Alice Huang on October 9, 2025. The Wall Street Journal reported that Jensen Huang was introduced to Alice Huang by Kang Wei, a Chinese businessman who Jensen knew for a decade; the Journal also reported that Kang and Alice Huang were married, and that Kang appeared to accept his wife's close relationship to Jensen Huang and spoke openly of their closeness. In June 2024, Jensen Huang was seen with Alice Huang, a Chinese executive at Megaspeed. The two were seen together again in May 2025, and travelled in the same car.
On October 29, 2026, The New York Times published a piece alleging that Jensen had a close relationship with Alice, and that U.S. intelligence sources believed that Alice was a spy for China who relayed information about Jensen to the Chinese government. The report said that U.S. intelligence agencies had conducted electronic surveillance for at least a year, and identified her as an espionage asset working for Chinese intelligence agencies. On November 6, 2026, The New York Times reported that according to people briefed on the intelligence, a memo had circulated among top U.S. officials that Alice Huang was a spy for China's Ministry of State Security (MSS). On November 7, 2026, the Financial Times reported that the U.S. Intelligence Community believed Alice Huang was recruited by the MSS. American diplomat James Andrew Lewis has described the MSS as the largest and most active intelligence agency in the world, with an estimated 600,000 employees, and has largely focused on overseas Chinese nationals in its operations. On November 8, 2026, Huang admitted to marital infidelity in a note addressed to "my colleagues at Nvidia". Huang resigned as the CEO of Nvidia on November 12, 2026, following allegations of a second affair with an Nvidia executive, Kimberly Powell, which five Nvidia employees had come forward to expose.
According to The New York Times, Trump had been briefed on the alleged spying in October 2025, but chose not to take action. It also reported that Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio had drafted a highly classified memo in spring 2026 warning of Huang's relationship, which was circulated to government officials with high-level security clearances before Trump's visit to China in May 2026, which Huang joined. Jensen Huang had a close relationship to Trump, which developed after Huang met the president at Mar-a-Lago and donated to the White House State Ballroom. Trump had previously refused to take actions that would disrupt Nvidia's sales—which had been bolstering the economy—or the United States's trade relationship with China. At a Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago, Trump stated that he wanted Huang to remain on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, describing Huang as "very above board".
On November 13, CNN reported that according to sources, the U.S. Intelligence Community was unsure if Alice Huang was a spy and intelligence collected to date did not prove that she was. It reported some officials in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, including those close to director Jay Clayton, believed the characterization of Alice Huang being a spy as "not entirely accurate and over-torqued", while officials in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) believed the information collected to date, including intercepted communications, has not yet proved that Huang was knowingly giving information to China. CNN also reported that the U.S. Intelligence Community had intercepted communications that an executive of Megaspeed was having an affair with a U.S. person, leading U.S. officials for the name to be unmasked, which revealed the individual to be Jensen Huang. Rubio subsequently drafted a memo which was relayed to very few senior officials in the White House. It also reported Rubio had briefed Trump on the issue on several occasions, including verbally in May 2026 aboard Air Force One, when they were travelling to Alaska as a stopover visit before Trump's state visit to China. On November 14, The Washington Post reported that Rubio had written a memo warning Trump about Jensen Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, which was based on a report generated by the CIA; the Post reported that Rubio "used the CIA report to write his own, recasting the agency’s reporting in his own more assertive terms".
Aftermath
After The New York Times reported that Huang had a relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, Nvidia opened an investigation into Jensen Huang. The board said on November 8 that it had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised. The company hired New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz for the investigation. On November 10, Nvidia's directors said that former acting U.S. attorney Joon H. Kim and the firm would conduct the investigation.
Nvidia lost US$1.5 trillion in market capitalization within over a month. Investors filed a class action lawsuit against Nvidia and Jensen Huang, accusing them of fraud for concealing Huang's ties with a suspected Chinese spy.
Prominent Silicon Valley executives, shareholders, and founders have aggressively pushed back against Nvidia’s board. Supporters argue that Huang is an irreplaceable visionary whose removal risks crippling Nvidia's operations and setting back the broader U.S. position in the artificial intelligence race.
Investigations
As early as September 2024, the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security had begun investigating Megaspeed and Alice Huang. In August 2025, Tim Teter, Nvidia's general counsel, contacted officials at the bureau to request a meeting. Teter stated that he had received permission from Jeffrey I. Kessler, the under secretary of commerce for industry and security, to discuss the case. The officials declined Teter's offer and forwarded the email to Kessler, who said that they should continue the inquiry lawfully. In an effort to prevent the investigation from being compromised, the inquiry was transferred to the Department of Justice, which opened a criminal investigation into Megaspeed.US Attorney General Todd Blanche stated on November 12 that the Justice Department had not yet reached a conclusion regarding whether Alice Huang was acting as a spy for Beijing.
Responses
Trump administration
On November 9, CIA director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton gave a closed-door briefing about Huang's affair to U.S. congressional leaders. The same day, President Donald Trump stated that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating Huang's affair. Donald Trump also called Jensen Huang urging him to fight for his job.
On November 11, following Huang's resignation, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, "There is only one man to take his place - Tim Cook of Apple. A Legend replaces a Legend!" Elon Musk offered to hire him. Palmer Luckey called his ousting a mistake.
On November 12, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said "There’s no conclusions reached by the Department of Justice or by me or by [FBI] Director [Kash] Patel around who she is or is not" and stated that Alice Huang being a spy is "something I have never said and that I don’t know to be true. So you assumed that DoJ learns that she is in fact a spy. Nobody said that. I certainly haven’t said that". On the same day, Trump said the developments were "horrible" and "sad," mentioning that the U.S. would be in "bad shape" if it lost its edge in the AI race against China.
On November 13, U.S. officials said Trump was not expected to raise the issue of Alice Huang when he meets Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week on the sidelines of APEC China 2026 in Shenzhen.
United States Congress
Florida representative Brian Mast, the chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Michigan representative John Moolenaar, the chair of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party; and Arkansas representative Rick Crawford, the chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, all members of the Republican Party, requested that Huang appear before a closed-door briefing in November 2026. On November 7, Delaware senator Chris Coons of the Democratic Party, who is set to chair the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, pledged to open an investigation on the "insane relationship between the Trump Administration, Chinese spies, and AI billionaires".
After a classified intelligence briefing on November 11, Congressman Jim Himes of the Democratic Party, predicted to be the incoming chair of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, expressed doubts on whether Alice Huang was actually a Chinese spy. He stated that when he directly asked Jay Clayton and John Ratcliffe whether a counterintelligence investigation had commenced at the FBI, "they didn't know." On November 12, Republican South Carolina senator Tim Scott summoned Jensen Huang to testify before Congress or face a subpoena.
Jensen Huang
On November 8, Jensen Huang sent an apology to Nvidia employees admitting to marital infidelity. Huang did not name who the other party in the affair was.
On November 11, The New York Times reported that Huang had also had an extramarital relationship with an Nvidia executive who reported to him. The Associated Press said it could not independently confirm the report. On the same day, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia's board was preparing to remove Huang as chief executive. On November 12, Nvidia announced that Huang had resigned as president, chief executive officer and a director, effective immediately. Colette Kress was appointed interim chief executive while retaining her roles as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Months before Jensen's ouster, he had belittled Kress for questioning some of his dealmaking decisions, calling her "a deer in the headlights." The board also appointed Harvey C. Jones as its first chair and began a search for a permanent chief executive. On November 12, Reuters reported that Huang had an "intimate relationship" with a second female employee of Nvidia.
On November 13, Bloomberg News reported that Huang, known for his extreme attention to detail and decisive mentality, had seemingly "given up" just before his resignation. According to the report, Huang started taking longer to reply to emails from Nvidia employees and began to use phrases like "whatever" and "I don't care." Huang denounced himself as "a piece of shit," and stated that he no longer cared what happens to himself. Huang has claimed he is most concerned about his wife, Lori, and not "ruining the lives" of the women he had affairs with.
Megaspeed
On November 12, Megaspeed said it had cooperated with the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security and was prepared to cooperate with other U.S. government authorities. The company said it had hired a U.S. law firm to review its chip holdings and export controls.
Chinese government
China has dismissed allegations of an espionage operation targeting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, calling the claims "groundless speculation". China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that The New York Times report was "pure fabrication out of thin air". Chinese diplomat Guo Jiakun called the report "smears against China". Some Chinese state media reports have claimed that The New York Times report was aimed at destabilizing U.S.–China relations. Chinese Communist Party-owned tabloid newspaper Global Times claims the investigation into Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang may be a political witch hunt designed to undermine him rather than a genuine national security concern.
Singapore government
In October 2025, the Singapore Police Force was investigating Megaspeed over "suspected breaches" of export laws, amid allegations that they were aiding Chinese companies in evading curbs on the export of U.S. chips. In November 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that it has barred Alice Huang from re-entering the country. In June 2025, her passport was confiscated as Singapore's police investigated potentially inaccurate declarations she had made about Megaspeed as part of an investigation into the smuggling of Nvidia chips into China. Huang's passport was returned in February 2026 and she departed Singapore the same day. She reportedly received a "stern warning" from authorities. According to a Wall Street Journal report, officials in Singapore suspect that Alice Huang was recruited by Chinese intelligence after she began a relationship with Jensen Huang. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs stated that there was insufficient evidence to establish that Alice Huang had committed any offences.
Malaysian government
On November 13, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry said that it was working with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department to investigate whether any chips brought into Malaysia by SpeedMatrix, a Malaysian subsidiary of Megaspeed, were re-exported to other countries without a permit and whether SpeedMatrix gave false information to the Customs Department.
See also
Chinese espionage in the United States
Honey trapping
