China’s intelligence service recruited a technology executive to gather information on Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, according to The New York Times.
The recruit was Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed. Megaspeed buys Nvidia hardware, which puts her close to the chip supply chain. The two Huangs are not related.
The Ministry of State Security wanted more than industry gossip. According to the report, the agency sought details on American AI chips and hoped to “potentially influence the company to push for its most advanced chips to be made available to China.”
Alice Huang had contacts well beyond Megaspeed. The Times says she held relationships with executives at the highest levels of the AI chip industry, including leaders at Gigabyte.
Washington was aware of the relationship. President Trump was briefed last year about the pair, according to the report, but took no action at the time.
Congress moved faster this week. Three House committees asked Jensen Huang to appear for a joint, closed-door briefing on his “interactions” with Alice Huang. A closed session means the public will learn the substance only through leaks or a later summary.
The timing is not random. Nvidia sits at the centre of the export control fight between Washington and Beijing. Every new rule on advanced chips changes how much of the market Nvidia can reach. Officials have spent two years deciding which chips China may buy and which it may not, a debate that also shapes TSMC’s plans for advanced memory.
The report adds a human element to that argument. Export controls are usually described as a technical question about performance thresholds. A story about a recruited executive turns it into a question about access, pressure, and personal ties.
Lawyers who work on export cases often say the weakest link is rarely the hardware. It is the person who knows which orders are coming, and when. That is the risk the Times reporting describes.
Nvidia has not commented publicly on the Times story. The company’s China revenue already depends heavily on decisions made in Washington, and the new questions will not make that planning any easier.
Source: The Verge, citing The New York Times
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