Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang

In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union had a problem. Its submarines were too noisy, making them easier for American forces to track.

Moscow found a way around Western export restrictions by getting Japan's Toshiba Machine and a Norwegian company to supply advanced milling machines and computer controls through a network of intermediaries. 

The technology was allegedly used to manufacture quieter submarine propellers, making Soviet submarines up to 20 times quieter. The resulting Toshiba-Kongsberg scandal became one of the biggest technology-export controversies of the Cold War.

Technology espionage takes place in various forms. From Klaus Fuchs passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union while working on the Manhattan Project to the alleged Chinese intelligence operation targeting NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. But this case is unusual: the target was not an engineer, a scientist or a research lab. It was the man at the helm of the world's most valuable AI chipmaker.

And it was carried out in full public view.

According to reports citing US intelligence, Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International -- an NVIDIA customer -- was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to gather intelligence on Jensen. 

The alleged objective was to gain insight into NVIDIA's plans and potentially influence its stance on selling advanced AI chips to China. 

The claims have not been independently established in public, and NVIDIA has said it has no reason to believe its trade secrets or national security information were compromised.

So, how did this all unfold? Here's what we know from media reports:

•    2023: Alice joined Singapore-based Megaspeed International, an NVIDIA customer, as managing director. She stepped down in November that year.
•    June 2024-May 2025: Alice was photographed with Jensen at industry gatherings. Their last publicly reported appearance together was at a dinner in Taipei in May 2025.
•    Late 2024: US authorities began scrutinising Megaspeed over concerns that NVIDIA chips supplied to the company could be diverted to China. Alice reportedly travelled to Beijing around this time and largely disappeared from public view.
•    Late 2025: US intelligence agencies reportedly began surveilling Alice, suspecting she could be working for Chinese intelligence.
•    2025-2026: Investigators reportedly examined whether she had been passing information to Beijing.
•    October-November 2026: The story came into the public domain through a series of media reports.

What makes the entire episode particularly puzzling is how little is known about what Jensen himself was told. Was he ever alerted to the suspicions surrounding Alice? Did he know that US intelligence agencies considered her a potential Chinese asset? And was he aware that their relationship was reportedly under scrutiny?

The last publicly reported sighting of the two together was in May 2025, at a dinner in Taipei. Footage from that evening showed Alice kissing Jensen on the cheek and touching his back before they left the restaurant in the same car.

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There is another wrinkle. Jensen has consistently pushed back against Washington's restrictions on selling advanced AI chips to China. As recently as October 2026, he was arguing that the US should loosen its export controls.

Put these things together and the optics are difficult to ignore. The head of America's most strategically important AI chip company was reportedly close to a woman suspected of working for Chinese intelligence. At the same time, he was making the case for allowing more American AI technology to reach China.

That raises uncomfortable questions for Washington, too. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that whoever wins the AI race will win the future, warning that the US cannot afford to let China get ahead. Yet, according to media reports, Trump had been briefed about the intelligence concerns surrounding Jensen well before the story became public.

If that was the case, why wasn't Jensen warned? And was the risk ever properly addressed?

For now, Jensen remains at the centre of America's AI ambitions. NVIDIA remains indispensable to the global AI race. But the questions raised by this episode are unlikely to disappear anytime soon.

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