Nvidia scandal: Alice Huang's 'overnight pivot' raised red flags as US probes spy angle

The US intelligence community is yet to conclusively establish whether Alice Huang, the Chinese businesswoman who had an affair with Nvidia's ousted CEO Jensen Huang, was a Chinese spy, multiple sources told CNN. Sources said that the intelligence collected so far does not prove she was acting for Beijing, even as some of Alice Huang's moves raised red flags within the FBI. 'No conclusions' yet Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday there are still "no conclusions reached by the Department of Justice, or by me, or by [FBI] Director Patel around who she is or is not." US President Donald Trump also said it's yet to be determined whether the woman was spying or not.

"Well, the big thing is, was the woman a spy? And I don't know if that's been determined yet. But if the woman was a spy, yes. If the woman was not a spy, perhaps it would be different," Trump added. According to CNN, officials at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, including those close to director Jay Clayton, see the "Chinese spy" label as not entirely accurate. CIA officials are also not convinced that the intercepted communications prove she knowingly funnelled information to Beijing, a source said. Some Trump officials argue otherwise. They suggest that it cannot be ruled out that Huang was working for the Chinese government simply because she is a successful businesswoman working with one of America's most powerful companies.

The FBI, which is leading the counterintelligence probe, has been suspicious of her seemingly overnight pivot from Chinese state television journalist to businesswoman with unusually large purchasing power, a source told CNN. In another development that raised eyebrows, US intelligence obtained communications suggesting someone with close access to Jensen Huang and Nvidia was the source of information that ended up in Chinese intelligence streams, a person familiar with the investigation told CNN. Democratic Rep. Jim Himes, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, left a classified briefing this week unsure of the answers.

"Because today, at least, I don't know," he told POLITICO. Smuggling angle Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the Justice Department is probing whether entities linked to Alice Huang were involved in smuggling Super Micro Computer products to China. The Manhattan US attorney's office is leading the scrutiny, a person familiar said. Her Singapore-based company Megaspeed, a major buyer of Nvidia chips, is already under investigation over suspected chip smuggling. Megaspeed has denied wrongdoing. Super CNN reported that the Justice and Commerce departments began examining Megaspeed in 2024. The White House is now asking why Commerce did not add it to the "entity list" while the probe was on.

A former Commerce official told CNN: "An intelligence operation wasn't necessary to achieve that result." Jensen Huang has publicly advocated selling more chips to China, the official noted, and "a regulatory loophole" already allowed diversion. Missed warnings? Notably, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned in a spring memo about Jensen Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, a source told CNN. He briefed Trump aboard Air Force One en route to China in May. Jensen Huang disclosed the affair on Sunday, triggering a sharp selloff in Nvidia shares and his exit as CEO on Thursday. Bloomberg reported he is not a target of US probes.

The two are not related. Alice Huang is living in Beijing with the knowledge of security officials, Bloomberg reported. Romance as a long game In a separate report, the New York Times cited a history of intimate relationships in espionage. Nicholas Eftimiades, a retired senior American intelligence officer, told NYT that China's distinguishing feature is patience. "They play this long term .These are long-term relationships, sometimes marriages." Similar such cases from the past include Bernard Boursicot, a French diplomatic employee convicted of espionage in 1986. Another is Christine Fang, believed by counterintelligence officials to be a Chinese spy, who had a relationship with former US Representative Eric Swalwell between 2012 and 2015. the report said.

Alex Joske of Garnaut Global told NYT that when targeting wealthy elites, "you try to co-opt someone in their circle." Eye of the beholder A former senior counterintelligence official told CNN: "A lot of these people are guilty of just being Chinese." Joshua Hodges, a commissioner on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, countered that "we've seen repeatedly the Chinese are incredibly adept at using people both wittingly and unwittingly." Under Chinese national security law, citizens can be compelled to help gather intelligence, which is why some officials see a counterintelligence risk regardless of intent.

Meanwhile, China has rejected the espionage allegations as a smear.