Nvidia CEO targeted by Chinese-recruited woman in suspected industrial espionage plot - report

Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, also known by her Chinese name, Huang Le, was reportedly recruited by China's MSS to build a relationship with and gather information on the Nvidia CEO.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a spy plot orchestrated by China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), according to a New York Times report on Friday citing sources briefed on a US intelligence memo. 

Chinese businesswoman and executive at a Singapore-based data center company, Alice Huang, also known by her Chinese name as Huang Le, was reportedly recruited by the MSS to develop a close relationship with Jensen and collect information on the tech executive.

The memo was circulated last spring among top Trump administration policymakers and detailed a plot by Beijing’s spy agency to gather information about the sensitive technology behind American AI chips, which China has largely been denied access to.

The NYT described the new information as insight into what seems to be “an especially audacious example of China’s longstanding industrial espionage efforts.”

US spy agencies are now working to unravel Beijing’s goal for having one of its spies maintain a close relationship with Jensen, raising questions regarding Jensen’s status as an influential figure in the global AI race and a Trump ally.

Previous US intelligence assessments regarding Jensen’s relationship with Le concluded that she was a Chinese asset who funneled information to Beijing, but the memo reportedly included details of her direct espionage work.

US intelligence revealed Le's connections to Beijing, AI executives

On October 29, the NYT first reported that Jensen was the target of a spy plot, a revelation that came after US intelligence agencies conducted at least a year of electronic surveillance on Le. 

Beyond Le’s relationship with the Nvidia CEO, people familiar with Le told the NYT that she also maintained connections with other AI chip executives, including the leaders of Gigabyte, a top assembler of Nvidia supercomputers.

Le is also reportedly well-connected within a network of companies and investors in China’s Shanghai and Zhejiang provinces that used ties with local officials to push for data centers.

Megaspeed, Le’s Singapore-based company, initiated a multibillion-dollar purchase of Nvidia AI chips shortly after the first time she was publicly pictured with Jensen in 2024. According to the NYT report, the purchase came as a surprise to many in the industry.

Since the purchase, Megaspeed built data centers in Southeast Asia and rented computing power to Alibaba, allegedly giving the Chinese company backdoor access to chips they otherwise would be blocked from using.

Le linked to Chinese military cybersecurity subsidiary as MSS increases focus on AI

Le’s network also included financial links to the Chinese military, including investments in a cybersecurity subsidiary of one of Beijing’s most prominent military-technology developers.

Former CIA counterintelligence analyst Peter Mattis told the NYT that China’s spy agency, the MSS, has increasingly focused on technology as Beijing views AI supremacy as “the key fight for dominance in the economic world.”

Between 2015 and 2023, the MSS expanded cyber operations and widened its spy network through aggressive recruitment, the NYT cited researchers and US officials as saying.

The MSS, which recruited Le to gain proximity to Jensen, has reportedly used its ties to Chinese companies to conduct hacking, espionage, and intelligence-gathering efforts.