Alice Huang openly flaunted her access to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at a Taipei party in June 2024, telling a group of tech executives she could bring him there, according to a New York Times report.The exchange offered a glimpse into the access Alice Huang appeared to enjoy with one of the most influential figures in the technology industry. (Credits: X/@wangjupaian) A little after midnight at a tech party in Taipei in June 2024, Alice Huang, a businesswoman who has come into focus over suspected links to Chinese espionage and an affair with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, made a bold claim before a group of technology executives. She said she could get the billionaire to join them.
Moments later, Jensen Huang walked in."I bet you guys I can get Jensen here," Alice Huang told the group, according to Parker Schmitt, who is chief executive of NetThunder, a data software provider, who witnessed the exchange and later recounted it to The New York Times.Jensen Huang arrived with two other Nvidia executives and joined the group for a shot of whiskey. However, a person familiar with Nvidia told the media house that the CEO had already planned to attend the gathering.The exchange offered a glimpse into the access Alice Huang appeared to enjoy with one of the most influential figures in the technology industry.
According to Schmitt, Alice was keen to establish herself as a successful sales executive and her association with Jensen Huang helped build her professional image.Her social media profiles were filled with photographs of the two together, including pictures taken at a golf course and restaurants where they shared wine. "Photos with Jensen are a point of pride," Schmitt said. Reports that US authorities were investigating Alice Huang over suspected links to Chinese intelligence first surfaced in October, with officials believing she was gathering information for Beijing as part of a foreign intelligence operation.Her association with Singapore-based data centre company, Megaspeed, added another dimension to the allegations.
The company purchased more than USD 4.8 billion worth of Nvidia chips over two years, raising questions about their eventual destination amid US restrictions on exports of advanced semiconductor technology to China.According to the NYT report, US President Donald Trump had been briefed about the intelligence allegations roughly a year before they became public. Jensen Huang, however, was never formally warned that he could be a target of a foreign intelligence operation.Nvidia had previously defended its dealings with Megaspeed, with Jensen Huang describing the business relationship as normal.
The company said it had examined the deployment of its graphics processing units (GPUs) and checked that its chips had not been illegally diverted to China.The controversy erupted after Jensen Huang broke his silence and admitted in an email to Nvidia employees that he was unfaithful to his wife, Lori Huang, and apologised to her and their children for his actions."I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and her children.
There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry," the 63-year-old said.He also acknowledged failing in his responsibilities towards Nvidia's employees, board and shareholders, and vowed to regain their trust.Meanwhile, Nvidia's board has launched an independent inquiry, to be conducted by a committee of independent directors with the assistance of external legal counsel.
Huang has backed the probe and pledged full cooperation."While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, the Board's inquiry will examine all available information," the company said, stressing its commitment to US national and economic security.The chipmaker's board meets today to decide whether to remove him. The allegations have also drawn congressional attention.
Three Republican committee chairmen, namely Brian Mast, John Moolenaar and Rick Crawford, wrote to Huang on November 4 seeking a closed-door briefing on potential national security risks, China's access to sensitive US technology and Nvidia's safeguards against foreign intelligence operations. They asked him to appear on November 18.Nvidia has maintained that Huang interacts with thousands of customer executives every year and that its cloud customers in Asia have access only to ordinary business information, not sensitive trade secrets or US national security-related information.The controversy comes at a critical time for Nvidia, whose chips power AI infrastructure used by technology giants such as OpenAI and Meta.
Co-founded by Huang in 1993, the company evolved from a graphics processing firm largely associated with gaming into a semiconductor powerhouse at the heart of the AI boom.However, its estimated USD 4.5 trillion valuation has come under pressure amid concerns over the sustainability of AI spending and a broader technology sell-off. Its shares have also erased their gains for the year.- Ends