New York, US intelligence agencies have concluded that a Chinese businesswoman who developed a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset and funnelled information to Beijing, according to a New York Times report – China has dismissed the allegations as a "smear".US intelligence agencies identify businesswoman close to Nvidia chief as Beijing asset: ReportThe woman, identified in the report as Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a Chinese citizen and senior executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed.The findings raised concerns about whether she could have obtained insights into US President Donald Trump's thinking on an issue central to US-China relations or information about Nvidia, said the report published on Thursday.On Friday, the state-run Global Times quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun as saying: "The relevant report was groundless and was nothing but a smear against China."The New York Times report said Alice Huang was suspected of helping China circumvent US restrictions on access to advanced AI chips.US surveillance revealed that Alice Huang had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, the Nvidia chief, the report said.Trump was briefed about the intelligence findings roughly a year ago but chose not to act on them, the report said.It added that Trump had been wary of disrupting Nvidia's chip sales and complicating trade ties with China.Jensen Huang has not received a defensive briefing about the alleged Chinese intelligence activity, according to people briefed on the surveillance cited by NYT.The US government has been investigating Megaspeed since late 2024 over suspicions that it was helping China gain access to advanced Nvidia chips through data centres in Southeast Asia.Megaspeed has bought Nvidia chips to build data centres and rent computing capacity to Chinese companies, including Alibaba.US investigators suspect that some chips acquired by the company are also finding their way illegally into China, the report said.Megaspeed's sister company in Malaysia bought at least USD 4.8 billion worth of advanced AI equipment containing Nvidia chips and technology between June 2024 and February 2026, according to trade records cited by the newspaper.The US Commerce Department investigation into Megaspeed was handed over to the Justice Department this year, the report said.Nvidia told NYT that Megaspeed was like any other regional customer and that it had previously investigated and debunked claims that the Singapore-based firm was smuggling chips to China."Jensen's interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected.
Meetings with customers are part of a CEO's job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year," an Nvidia spokesperson was quoted as saying.The company said customers like Megaspeed received ordinary business information and not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets or information relevant to national security.Megaspeed initially told NYT that it took the allegations "extremely seriously" and had retained outside counsel to conduct an internal investigation. It later said it "cannot respond to a media trial and welcomes formal, evidence-based investigation", according to the report.Nvidia and Megaspeed have continued doing business this year, with the latter remaining listed on Nvidia's website as a cloud partner.
Megaspeed and its affiliates continued purchasing Nvidia products, often through intermediaries, the report said.Singaporean authorities had also questioned Huang in 2025 as part of their investigation into Megaspeed before releasing her, according to the report.This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.