Alice Huang, who reportedly had a romantic relationship with ousted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, owned stakes in Chinese businesses that benefited Huawei, Nvidia's largest competitor in China, according to an investigation by private intelligence firm Tesari shared exclusively with CNBC [1]. The connection was uncovered through analysis of interlocking corporations and transactions showing that businesses connected to Alice Huang were linked with supplying Nvidia computing power to Huawei around the same time she and Jensen Huang were first publicly seen together in December 2023 [1].
The business network analysis reveals a complex web of entities: Alice Huang (Chinese name Huang Le), based in Hong Kong, sold a cloud business called Osmanthus to Chinese gaming company 7Road in 2019 [1]. A subsidiary of 7Road, based in Singapore, was spun off as "Megaspeed" in 2023, which became a key Nvidia customer and helped facilitate at least $7.5 billion in Nvidia chip shipments to Chinese firms, according to The Information [1]. Additionally, as early as 2016, Alice Huang became a co-owner of Shanghai Hexi, a financial firm that heavily invests in tech and data centers [1].
Huawei is characterized as a Chinese government "state champion" in technology and telecommunications that receives enormous financial support from Beijing to undercut global competitors and is closely linked to the Chinese Communist Party [1]. In 2024, Nvidia identified Huawei as a top competitor specifically in artificial intelligence chips including graphics processing units, central processing units, and networking chips [1]. The alleged entanglement raises significant national security concerns, as it suggests potential conflicts of interest and possible unauthorized technology transfer to a strategic U.S. competitor during a period when Jensen Huang and Alice Huang were in business together [1].
CONCLUSION
The investigation reveals a potential national security breach involving Nvidia's ousted CEO, with allegations that his romantic partner simultaneously held stakes in companies that funneled billions in Nvidia chips to Huawei, China's leading AI competitor. This development carries substantial implications for Nvidia's governance, U.S.-China technology competition, and potential regulatory scrutiny of the company's operations and leadership.