New York Times: Huang Renxun’s “female spy” came from China’s Ministry of State Security and the purpose of her mission was revealed

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang plays a key role in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, but a Chinese female industry executive with close ties to Huang Jen-Hsun, Huang Le (also known as Alice Huang in transliteration), has been accused of being a spy and passing information to the Beijing authorities. The latest news points out that a memo circulated among senior Trump administration officials shows that Huang Le is a spy for the Chinese Ministry of State Security, tasked with collecting intelligence on Huang Renxun.

The New York Times reported on Friday (6th) that Huang Le was recruited by China's highest-level intelligence agency and was responsible for collecting intelligence on Huang Renxun. Beijing's move is to further grasp information related to American artificial intelligence (AI) chips, and may affect Huida, prompting the company to strive to supply its most advanced chips to the Chinese market.

The report noted that the existence of the memo, and U.S. officials’ assessment that Huang Le worked directly for China’s main intelligence agency, had never been disclosed before. These new details further reveal a case of China's long-standing industrial espionage activities, and the methods appear to be particularly bold.

The New York Times reported last week that Huang was the target of a Chinese intelligence operation and that U.S. intelligence agencies had begun electronic surveillance of the Chinese woman at least a year ago. The New York Times pointed out that Trump was briefed on Huang’s relationship with the woman last year but chose not to take any action.

People who have met Huang Le say that she speaks fluent English and has contacts with top corporate executives in the AI ​​chip industry, including Jen-Hsun Huang and Gigabyte executives. Gigabyte is one of the major assemblers of Huida supercomputers.

It is unclear when Huang Le first met Huang. But around the time the two were photographed together in a bar in Taipei in 2024, the company she ran, Megaspeed, began purchasing advanced AI microchips on a large scale, with the purchase amount reaching billions of dollars. For many people in the industry, Megaspeed suddenly invested heavily in the field of AI and had abundant funds. This layout seemed to be without warning and confusing.

The report pointed out that Huang Le is associated with a network of companies and investors, which is mainly concentrated in Shanghai and Zhejiang Province. These companies and investors leveraged their relationships with local officials in Shanghai to actively expand their business from mobile games to data centers, which provide the computing power behind artificial intelligence. In addition, this corporate network also has financial ties to the Chinese military system through investment in a cybersecurity subsidiary of China Electronics Technology Group.

Next, Megaspeed has been building data centers in Southeast Asia and then leasing computing power to Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, allowing China to obtain Huida's advanced chips through a roundabout channel.

Huida spokesman John Rizzo said the company will not share confidential information with customers, nor will customers ask Huida to pressure the U.S. government to change its policy on chip sales to China. He added that the Chinese government "has continued to support local Chinese alternatives, including Huawei, and has strictly restricted the import of our data center products."

Rizzo emphasized that Huang's interaction with Huang Le was "nothing unusual" and was no different from his usual meetings with Huida's many clients.

Liu Chang, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States, said the New York Times report was "baseless" and "purely smearing China."

Spokespersons for the White House and the CIA declined to comment.