US memo: Nvidia's Huang had romance with alleged spy

Her name is Alice Huang. She's an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based Nvidia customer. A U.S. intelligence memo says she was also Jensen Huang's romantic partner. American officials believe China's top spy agency recruited her to get close to him. The Financial Times reported the memo's contents on Saturday.

Nvidia disputes that frame. The company says Huang only ever had a typical business relationship with her. But the stakes reach past one man's love life. The New York Times reports her goal: push Huang to lobby for looser AI chip export rules. Congress already wants answers. Three House Republican committee chairs have asked Huang to brief them behind closed doors. The date: Nov. 18, the day after Nvidia reports earnings.

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Will Congress find that Huang changed any real decision because of her? Nobody has shown that yet. Nvidia's chips power the entire AI industry, in the US and in China. If a foreign agent really did get close to the man steering those sales, this is a national security story. It isn't a tabloid one.