Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to an affair with a woman accused of being a Chinese spy.
What came first? The leather jacket or the alleged honeytrap? Jensen Huang has landed himself in controversy and, much like his low-key activities, shares in his company, Nvidia, have slid as a potential consequence.
His temporary significant other, Alice Huang, better known by her real name, Huang Le, a Chinese businesswoman at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based technology company, is accused of spying for China as part of an intelligence-gathering operation for Beijing.
The Affair
In a letter to Nvidia employees, Huang said: “I owe my family and all of you an apology. I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
Authorities believe Jensen was targeted as part of a honeytrap operation, a common technique used by intelligence agencies whereby the target is seduced by an asset to acquire high-value information. In this case, the objective was likely to obtain details about Nvidia’s capabilities and influence its relationship with China.
Need to Know: Alice Huang
- Name: Huang Le, also known as Alice Huang.
- Nationality: Chinese.
- Known for: Business executive and investor.
- Company: Singapore-based Megaspeed International, an AI computing and data-centre company and a major customer of Nvidia.
- Accusations: US intelligence agencies believe she was working for China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).
- Outcome: China denies the allegations, and no criminal charges have been publicly reported.
On 8 November, Jensen Huang sent a company-wide email to employees regarding his affair, though he stopped short of identifying who he had an extramarital affair with. The company subsequently launched its own independent investigation into its CEO to determine if he had broken company rules and whether the Nvidia exec had breached national laws.
Closed-Door Congress Briefing
Huang has been asked to brief Congress on the affair after three senior Republican lawmakers sent him a letter. The proposed date is 18 November; the hearing will be a closed-door meeting. The politicians who summoned Huang are Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China; and Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Brian Mast released a statement on behalf of the United States government about its concern about China’s access to national technological infrastructure: “Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information.” China has responded and says the “Chinese spy” allegation is purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China.”
If called upon, Chinese law requires its own citizens to work with its intelligence community. Article 7 of the People’s Republic of China’s National Intelligence Law (2017, amended 2018) says: “All organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with national intelligence efforts in accordance with law, and shall protect national intelligence work secrets they are aware of.”
At this time, Huang has not been accused of spying at the state level, and it’s presumed he may have unwittingly revealed information. At present, Nvidia’s share price has dropped by 5.14% from $186.64 to approximately $177.04 per share.
Photo: Presidential Office of Taiwan (CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
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