Donald Trump ignored intelligence indicating that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a “Chinese spy plot,” partly to protect Nvidia’s stock. Trump is closely aligned with Jensen Huang, who serves as his key advisor on AI. About a year ago, Trump was briefed that Beijing was receiving reports from someone with direct access to Huang.
That person was Alice Huang (or Huang Le), a former top executive at the Singapore‑based cloud firm Megaspeed. US investigators suspected Alice Huang helped China evade export controls to obtain high‑end Nvidia chips, and were alarmed she may have used her role to gain direct access to Jensen Huang, feeding China intel on Nvidia and influencing Trump’s AI stance. Concerns that action against the alleged spying could hobble Nvidia chip sales or disrupt the US‑China trade truce led Trump to “choose not to do anything with the information.” Alice Huang’s name was later removed from Megaspeed documents, and China’s embassy called the accusations baseless. Jensen Huang never received a defensive briefing, and some officials doubt he remained unaware of her activities. Scott Bessent noted Trump’s alignment with Huang ahead of AI talks with President Xi Jinping.
Since aligning with Trump, the Nvidia CEO has secured relaxed export controls and a controversial deal giving the US a 25 % cut of some chip sales. Investigations at the Commerce Department have reportedly stalled due to Huang’s influence.
Source: Ars Technica · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing