Alice Huang, the Megaspeed International founder suspected of spying for China, whose case threatens to bring down Nvidia Corp. head Jensen Huang, has gone back to her homeland, according to sources briefed on the matter, reported Bloomberg.
One source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity, said she is living in Beijing and that security officials are aware of her presence. When she traveled there, why, and what she is doing remain unclear.
Speculation about Alice Huang's whereabouts has swirled since Jensen Huang admitted to an extramarital affair with her and Nvidia's board launched an investigation into claims that she is a spy. Also known as Huang Le, the former journalist turned chip-leasing power broker triggered the controversy that has rattled markets. Beijing denies she is a spy, and China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Bloomberg said.
She founded Megaspeed, Southeast Asia's largest buyer of Nvidia chips and a major route for smuggling the firm's hardware into China, and steered it into a key regional partner of Nvidia. Attempts to reach her on Thursday were unsuccessful.
Megaspeed was spun off in 2023 from 7Road Holdings Ltd., one of China's largest video game enterprises, months after Joe Biden restricted AI chip exports to China. 7Road first sold its Singapore subsidiary to Huang Le Ltd., a British Virgin Islands entity, which took control. Huang Le Ltd. sold Megaspeed to a Singapore shell company in November 2023, and days later Nvidia named it an official Nvidia Cloud Partner, granting preferred chip access.
Trade records show Megaspeed has imported more than $4.6 billion in Nvidia products. It rents chips to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., which denies Washington's allegations of military ties and declined to comment on the relationship.
Before entering the neocloud industry, Alice Huang began her career in finance and worked as vice general manager of Shanghai Hexi Investment Co. from November 2015, according to WeChat posts by the fund house that also list her earlier roles at Citic Securities Co. and HSBC Holdings Plc.
Citic Securities and HSBC representatives did not respond to Bloomberg, and Hexi was not immediately reachable by phone.
