Alice Huang, Who Allegedly Spied for China, Had Stakes in Businesses Linked to Nvidia Rival Huawei: Report

An investigation has uncovered business connections between Alice Huang, who had a romantic relationship with Nvidia Corp.’s (NASDAQ:NVDA) co-founder and former CEO Jensen Huang and Chinese companies linked to Huawei Technologies.

Alice Huang’s Business Network Had Huawei Connections

According to a CNBC report published Thursday, private intelligence firm Tesari identified Alice Huang’s indirect financial interests in businesses connected to a Chinese data center whose key customer was Huawei Cloud.

The investigation found that Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, co-owned Shanghai Hexi, an investment firm that acquired a 27% stake in data center developer Shanghai Century Longteng in 2021.

Century Longteng, in turn, owned a controlling 50.1% interest in Shenzhen Yifeng Technology, which operated a data center serving Huawei Cloud. Hexi also guaranteed loans used to finance the facility.

Although Hexi exited its investment in Century Longteng in 2024, Alice Huang’s business network reportedly retained connections to the data center.

Her husband, Kang Wei, was also a longtime Hexi associate who later became an executive at Century Longteng and attended the company’s Huawei agreement signing.

Nvidia and Huawei did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.

Nvidia Chips and Huawei Connection Raise Questions

The investigation also identified a separate connection involving Alice Huang’s former cloud computing business, Osmanthus, which she sold to Chinese gaming company 7Road in 2019.

A Singapore-based 7Road subsidiary was spun off as Megaspeed in 2023. The company subsequently became a major Nvidia customer, reportedly facilitating at least $7.5 billion in chip shipments to Chinese companies.

Separately, Century Longteng’s majority owner, Zhejiang Century Huatong Group, began purchasing Nvidia GPUs in 2023. However, it remains unclear whether the Shenzhen facility acquired those chips or used them to serve Huawei.

Potential National Security Implications

Brian Andersen, Tesari’s vice president for national security applications, said the findings warrant a national security and technology counterproliferation investigation.

Unauthorized transfers of restricted computing equipment to Huawei could potentially trigger export-control, conspiracy or smuggling charges.

Jensen Huang has acknowledged having an affair, but the relationship’s exact timeline remains unclear.

Jensen Huang Resigns Ahead of Congress Testimony

On Thursday, Nvidia announced that Jensen Huang has stepped down as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately. Executive Vice President and CFO Colette Kress will take over as interim CEO.

Jensen Huang is expected to testify before Congress ahead of Thanksgiving. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Brian Mast told reporters that congressional staff has been in discussions with Nvidia about arranging Huang’s testimony.

Price Action: Nvidia shares fell 4.34% to $166.19 at Thursday’s close before gaining 0.99% in after-hours trading, according to Benzinga Pro.

Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings place Nvidia in the 12th percentile for Momentum and the 98th percentile for Growth.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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