China is denying a New York Times report that U.S. intelligence agencies viewed a businesswoman close to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as a Chinese intelligence asset, as questions grow over how Beijing pursues America’s most valuable AI company.
At a regular briefing on Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the report “is based on groundless speculation and is nothing more than an attempt to smear China,” according to the BBC.
A new report claims that China targeted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang — a key figure in AI development — through his ties to a Chinese tech executive.
ABC News’ Jay O’Brien reports. https://t.co/mrYIr4hsIa pic.twitter.com/Ch0lG2uXBR
— ABC News (@ABC) October 30, 2026
The Times reported Thursday, citing unnamed sources, that U.S. officials had been monitoring an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company, after she was suspected of helping smuggle Nvidia chips to China, and that officials determined she was acting as a Chinese intelligence asset passing commercial information to Beijing, according to The Guardian. The two are not related, both the Guardian and the BBC noted.
According to the BBC’s account of the Times report, surveillance picked up her communications with an American citizen who was later identified, through a process known as “unmasking,” as Jensen Huang. White House officials were reportedly alarmed by her access to the Nvidia chief precisely because of the close relationship he has built with President Donald Trump, the Guardian reported, citing the Times.
Nvidia pushes back
Nvidia disputes any suggestion that sensitive information changed hands. “Meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year,” a company spokesperson said, according to the Guardian. Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo said, according to the BBC, that “Jensen’s interactions with Ms Huang are not unusual or unexpected,” and that customers like Megaspeed “receive ordinary business information – not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets – and zero information relevant to national security.”
Rizzo also said allegations that the Singapore company was smuggling chips to China “were thoroughly investigated and debunked last year,” the BBC reported. Nvidia has said it complies with export laws and that there is no evidence its chips have been smuggled into China, according to the BBC.
Megaspeed told the Times its current leadership took the allegations seriously, had hired outside legal advisers to run an internal investigation and had told the U.S. government it was willing to cooperate, the BBC reported. The businesswoman did not respond to the Times’ request for comment, according to the BBC.
What is still unknown
No one has been charged. The BBC reported that it remains unclear what information, if any, was passed to Beijing, how valuable it was, or when the alleged intelligence gathering began. The reporting relies on unnamed officials, and the BBC said it had contacted the White House and Megaspeed for comment.
Why it matters
The episode lands in the middle of the fight over who gets America’s most advanced AI chips. Washington has restricted exports of Nvidia’s top chips to China since 2022, citing national security concerns and the risk that the technology could strengthen China’s military, the BBC reported. U.S. officials say they have caught several firms illegally trafficking the chips across the Chinese border and have investigated whether companies in third countries are helping Chinese businesses get the restricted technology, according to the BBC.
Jensen Huang has argued that letting Nvidia sell more of its products in China is important for keeping America competitive in AI, the BBC reported, while the Trump administration has kept restrictions on the most advanced chips in place as a national security matter, according to the Guardian.
For a country racing China on artificial intelligence, the report is a reminder that access to the people at the top of American tech can be as valuable to Beijing as the chips themselves. Whether investigators can show anything beyond routine business contact is the question the public reporting has not yet answered.
Sources
Sources cited
Sources
- Original post: ABC News (@ABC) on X, Oct 30, 2026
Posts on X are shown as published by their authors; claims in them are attributed, not independently confirmed unless the article says so. If an embedded post does not load, these links open the originals.