'China spy' Alice Huang: Ex-reporter who became the world's biggest buyer of Nvidia chips

Published: 17:16 EST, 9 November 2026 | Updated: 17:36 EST, 9 November 2026 Although it is unclear precisely when the married boss of the world’s largest AI chip firm met former Chinese TV reporter Alice Huang, alarm bells should have been ringing.Not only was she slim and beautiful with impeccable English, but Ms Huang had experienced a stratospheric and rather mysterious rise in the tech world.After working for Beijing’s state broadcaster, according to a short online biography that is difficult to verify, she moved into private equity, advising top executives at banks including HSBC.Then, just months after former US president Joe Biden imposed sweeping restrictions preventing the shipment of advanced AI chips to China in October 2022, Ms Huang acquired a dormant Chinese video game firm.She renamed it Megaspeed International and pivoted it into AI cloud computing and data centres.Soon it would become the largest buyer of Nvidia’s chips in south-east Asia. This ought to have concerned Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang – no relation to Ms Huang – whose advanced chips were now highly sought after by Chinese president Xi Jinping in the race for global digital supremacy by 2030.Yet in June 2024, he was seen enjoying whisky with Ms Huang at a bar in Taipei after a technology trade show – the first known picture of them together. Not only was she slim and beautiful with impeccable English, but Ms Huang had experienced a stratospheric and rather mysterious rise in the tech world Despite the probe, in May 2025, the Nvidia boss and Ms Huang were seen together again leaving a restaurant in Taipei after a business dinnerJust weeks later, a small, obscure Megaspeed sister company in Malaysia began to purchase £3.6billion worth of advanced AI equipment containing Nvidia chips. Trade records show the firm imported goods worth more than a thousand times its cash balance.Tech investors claim Ms Huang would brag about her connections to Mr Huang and use it to raise funds – and would share photos of them together on social media.However, concerns about her deals led to a US government investigation, with the Commerce Department suspecting the kit in Malaysia was being smuggled into China, and surveillance teams began monitoring her in late 2024.Despite the probe, in May 2025, the Nvidia boss and Ms Huang were seen together again leaving a restaurant in Taipei after a business dinner. US journalist Stephen Witt, who has written a book on Mr Huang and his business, said: ‘It should have been obvious that this woman had some red flags about her.‘She had no business background, she had no computer-science background, so Jensen should have been much more concerned.‘But I think he fell for it and he got played. It’s a tale as old as time.’Mr Huang became a key Donald Trump donor and went on to persuade the US President to roll back restrictions on selling some advanced AI chips to China.Last spring, US intelligence officials shared a memo with leading policymakers in Mr Trump’s administration, telling them she was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security.It stated that she had been recruited to collect information on Mr Huang as part of a drive to learn more about American AI chips and influence him to make them available to China. Mr Trump chose not to do anything about the memo, according to the New York Times.When reports of the affair first broke last month, Mr Huang initially insisted he had only shared a professional business relationship with Ms Huang. But he confessed to being unfaithful to his wife on Sunday.Ms Huang, whose whereabouts are unknown, has yet to respond to the claims.