Beijing denies woman who had close relationship with Jen-Hsun Huang was a Chinese spy

On Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected claims that a woman with a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was a Chinese spy. The spokesman dismissed these reports as "purely groundless speculation" and "slander and slander."

The Chinese foreign ministry's response underscores how the incident involving one of the world's most prominent technology executives has become embroiled in an increasingly fierce rivalry between Washington and Beijing.

On Sunday, Huang admitted to having a close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese business executive whom U.S. officials suspect of providing information to Chinese intelligence agencies. Nvidia said it is investigating Huang's behavior. The company's board of directors said it has no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets have been compromised.

Although U.S. officials have raised national security concerns and some lawmakers have called on Huang to testify before Congress, China has responded by downplaying the importance of the matter.

Chinese officials have sought to deny espionage accusations, while social media users have seized on the personal turmoil of the American billionaire, whose company is at the center of the U.S.-China battle for dominance in the artificial intelligence industry.

On Weibo, the heavily censored Chinese social media platform, users seemed happy to see the image of a tech celebrity long admired in Asia crumble.

"The character of Huang Renxun's beloved wife of 41 years has collapsed" was the most popular topic on the platform on Monday morning. Some users also accused the US news media of smearing Huang Le, who is not related to Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang.

The controversy began when the New York Times reported that U.S. government officials determined that Huang Le, an executive at Singaporean technology company Megaspeed, was gathering intelligence for Beijing.

The U.S. government has been investigating whether Megaspeed violated U.S. export controls by helping to transfer Nvidia's advanced artificial intelligence chips to China. The New York Times reported that authorities began monitoring Huang more than a year ago and discovered she had ties to a U.S. citizen later identified as Jen-Hsun Huang.

"I was unfaithful to my wife," Huang, 63, said Sunday. Nvidia has previously said their relationship is part of normal business dealings. "My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."

The investigation could complicate Huang's relationship with President Trump. Huang has emerged as an influential ally of the president in the technology industry, even as he has pressed the administration to ease export restrictions that restrict Nvidia from selling advanced chips to Chinese companies. In May, Huang Renxun traveled to China with Trump's delegation.

Huang argued that U.S. national security concerns are exaggerated because the Chinese military does not need Nvidia's chips to develop artificial intelligence technology, and the United States risks losing its technological leadership if it isolates itself from China's huge market.

Chinese officials deny that Huang Le is a spy. A number of prominent nationalist commentators echoed the sentiment on Monday.

Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, which is controlled by China's ruling party, described the turmoil as a political conspiracy by the United States. He called this revelation "a way for the Democratic Party and the American establishment to bring down Huang Jen-Hsun and then Trump." Similar claims are also circulating on social media.

The controversy is particularly compelling for Huang because of his extraordinary popularity across Asia and his celebrity status that is rare among corporate executives.

Born in Taiwan and raised in the United States, Huang has cultivated an image as a charismatic leader capable of bridging the widening rift between the U.S. and Chinese technology industries.