China has dismissed the United States’ claim about Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen at the center of a national security and espionage scandal involving Nvidia founder Jensen Huang.
On Tuesday, Beijing parried a question seeking the current whereabouts of Alice, a top executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center and cloud computing operator.
“The ‘Chinese spy’ allegation is purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated.
US intelligence officials believe China’s Ministry of State Security recruited Alice to gather intel on Nvidia and influence decisions regarding advanced semiconductor sales to Chinese firms.
In an internal letter to employees, 63-year-old Huang admitted to a years-long extramarital romantic relationship with Alice and apologized to his family and staff members.
The revelation has prompted a federal probe by the FBI, and a separate one by Nvidia, which said there’s no reason to believe company secrets or national security were compromised.
The board of directors on Tuesday announced it has hired a prominent former prosecutor and a top Wall Street law firm to meticulously investigate Huang’s affair with Alice.
“We have retained former acting U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct a thorough and independent investigation,” a statement reads.
