The Huang honey-trap scandal sends a message about chip-export controls

Excerpt On Sunday, Nvidia, the world’s leading supplier of advanced artificial intelligence chips, announced an investigation into reports that Chinese intelligence targeted its chief executive, Jensen Huang. Huang, a vocal opponent of U.S. chip-export controls, had an intimate relationship with a former tech industry executive whom U.S. intelligence officials have reportedly identified as a Chinese asset. U.S. authorities separately suspect that her former employer Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer, helped China obtain restricted chips. The incident has spurred bipartisan scrutiny. The Republican chairs of three House committees have asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (New York) said Trump administration officials would brief high-ranking members of the House and Senate from both parties, known as the Gang of Eight. Craig Singleton, a former U.S. diplomat, is the senior director of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.