One of the oldest tricks in the espionage game is the "honey trap," wherein the target is seduced into a, shall we say, intimate relationship with the spy, who proceeds to wheedle information or other favors out of the target via pillow talk. Even American Congressmen aren't immune, and neither, it seems, are CEOs of major tech companies. The chipmaker Nvidia's CEO, Jackson Huang, is under scrutiny for his relationship with one Alice Huang (no relation) who is suspected of being a Chinese spy.
And, it turns out, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sounded the alarm on this some time ago.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the drafting of the highly classified memo this past spring warning top Trump administration officials that Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy, multiple people briefed on the matter said.
The document was based on classified intelligence from electronic surveillance of Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen who was a senior executive at a Singapore-based company that was buying Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips and being investigated for illegally smuggling them into China. U.S. officials had concluded that Ms. Huang was in a close relationship with the Nvidia chief, who is no relation, and that she had been recruited to spy by China’s top intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security.
So, not just spying, but allegedly smuggling as well. But here's the curious bit:
Mr. Rubio’s involvement in warning administration officials about the situation has not been previously reported. It highlights how concerns about the relationship and the spying were known to senior officials even as Mr. Huang, a pivotal figure in the explosive growth of A.I., remained an influential voice with Mr. Trump over policy on the issue.
Mr. Huang has opposed calls for more tightly regulating the export of the most advanced A.I. chips and has pushed to be able to sell all but the most recently developed technology to China, the main competitor to the United States in the global rush for A.I. supremacy.
It's a CEO's job to promote the interests of his company, sure. But China isn't a nation friendly to the United States, and one would think that the CEO of an American tech company, like Nvidia, would be a little more circumspect about who his company sold its products to; but then, if the honey trap allegations are true, then we can assume he wasn't thinking clearly.
It's unclear why Secretary Rubio's warning was apparently disregarded, or at least, not acted upon. The president has made maintaining American supremacy in tech a priority, and Nvidia is a leading company in the tech sector — although, it would still be a leading company with a new CEO. And, a new CEO may well be in the offing. Nvidia now has initiated an investigation into the CEO's extracurricular activities. Huang has reportedly admitted to an intimate relationship with the suspected spy. He's married, by the way, compounding his crimes with marital infidelity.
As for Alice Huang, she has reportedly maintained contacts in the highest echelons of American artificial intelligence (AI) chip companies for some time. Her relationship with Jackson Huang may have begun as early as 2024, when they were photographed together at a bar in Taipei.
Former Rep. Eric Swalwell was not available for comment.
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