Nvidia's China ties under scrutiny: CEO Jensen Huang summoned over alleged spy links

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been summoned by the US lawmakers to brief Congress privately over alleged Chinese espionage. Three Republican committee chairs in the US House of Representatives want answers about his reported association with Alice Huang, who has been accused of having links to Chinese intelligence.

According to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reports, Jensen Huang and Alice Huang shared a close relationship. Intelligence officials in at least three countries suspected that Alice Huang was passing information about Nvidia's chips and technology to the Chinese government. It was reported that US President Donald Trump has already been briefed by the Intelligence officials about their relationship and the spying allegations against her.

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Nvidia has denied the allegations, claiming that Huang's interactions with Alice Huang were simply business interactions. On the other hand, the Chinese government has also dismissed spying claims on Nvidia as “groundless speculation.”

Jensen Huang to meet US lawmakers

Three senior Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives, Brian J. Mast, John Moolenaar, and Rick Crawford, have written to Huang to attend a joint briefing with all three committees. He is expected to brief the lawmakers on the nature of his reported relationship with the businesswoman accused of spying for China.

They also want to understand Nvidia’s safety and security measures to protect sensitive information, data, and technology, along with its business operations from foreign adversaries, particularly China. 

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Lawmakers have raised national security questions around China gaining sensitive American technology and information, and the possibility of foreign infiltration into US companies working on advanced technologies, including AI chips. 

“The issue of PRC infiltration and access to cutting-edge U.S. technology is core to the investigative work of our three committees this Congress. It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk,” the letter reads.

According to an Axios report, Nvidia has also shared a statement that said, “Our regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information — not sensitive NVIDIA trade secrets — and zero information relevant to national security,” the company said. “We're confident that if the U.S. government believes that any person is a threat to American industry, it would let us know,” it added.