Beijing says a New York Times report that Nvidia’s chief was targeted in a Chinese espionage effort is false, while Nvidia and Megaspeed respond to the claims.
Tamrah News Desk | October 30, 2026
A Jensen Huang spy plot report drew a firm denial from Beijing on Friday, October 30, 2026, one day after The New York Times said US intelligence officials see the Nvidia chief as a target of Chinese espionage. According to AFP, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun rejected the story at a regular briefing. Nvidia has also pushed back on the report.
What Is the Jensen Huang Spy Plot Report About?
The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people briefed on the matter, that US officials concluded a Megaspeed executive named Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, had passed information to Beijing. Megaspeed is a data centre company in Singapore. SiliconANGLE, summarising the Times, said Alice Huang is no relation to the Nvidia CEO but developed a close relationship with him. It added that officials believed he did not know she was gathering information for China.
AFP reported that the Times said Megaspeed had been under scrutiny for possibly steering advanced Nvidia AI chips to China.
Beijing Calls the Claims Groundless
Guo Jiakun said the article rested on “groundless speculation” and was an attempt to smear China, AFP reported. The Decoder reported that a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy also rejected the allegations, calling them “groundless smears and slanders.”
China’s position matches the wording of its earlier response to the same story, as relayed by AFP, and no Chinese official has offered evidence addressing the specific claims about Alice Huang.
How Nvidia and Megaspeed Responded
Nvidia told CNBC that Megaspeed is one of its regional cloud customers and that Jensen Huang speaks with thousands of customer executives every year. SiliconANGLE reported that the company called his dealings with Alice Huang
“not unusual or unexpected.”
An Nvidia spokesperson told AFP that regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information, not trade secrets, and nothing relevant to national security. The company also said, according to AFP, that earlier claims of chip smuggling by Megaspeed were investigated and debunked last year.
IBTimes reported that Huang described the Megaspeed business as normal when speaking to Bloomberg. IBTimes also said Megaspeed told the Times it had hired outside counsel and offered to cooperate with US authorities.
AFP said it tried to reach Megaspeed through the number on its website. The person who answered said it was a residential line and that they did not know the company.
Nvidia AI Chips and Export Controls
The United States restricts the sale of its most advanced chips to China, AFP noted. SiliconANGLE reported that sources told the Times the chips involved were headed to data centres in Malaysia and Indonesia that appear to serve customers in China.
The Decoder, citing the Times, reported that between June 2024 and February 2026 a Malaysian sister company of Megaspeed bought at least 4.8 billion dollars of AI hardware containing Nvidia chips. AFP described Nvidia as the world’s most valuable company, a status driven by global demand for data centre hardware.
Trump Briefing and Talks With Xi
AFP reported that the Times said President Donald Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings roughly a year ago and chose not to act. The Decoder added that Jensen Huang was not warned.
According to AFP, the information could have given Alice Huang insight into Trump’s thinking on artificial intelligence, a topic likely to come up when Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping next month. The report adds a new element to an already tense debate over export controls on advanced chips.
What Happens Next?
None of the reports reviewed by Tamrah News mentioned criminal charges against Jensen Huang or Alice Huang. Megaspeed has said it is examining the allegations with outside lawyers, according to IBTimes. The US government has not publicly responded in the coverage found so far.
For wider coverage, see our technology news and world news sections.
Conclusion
The Jensen Huang spy plot story rests on anonymous sourcing in a New York Times report, and China denies spying on Nvidia in the strongest terms. The Nvidia CEO and his company say their contacts with Alice Huang of Megaspeed were routine, and Nvidia says earlier chip smuggling claims were investigated and debunked. Readers following Nvidia chip smuggling to China, US export controls and Trump Xi talks on AI will want to watch for any formal US response or new findings.
-Tamrah News
