Alice Huang's business ties reach Huawei, Nvidia's top rival in China
CNBC reported that Alice Huang held stakes in companies tied to a data center serving Huawei Cloud, adding a new thread to the Nvidia leadership crisis.
A new link to Huawei
Private intelligence firm Tesari found that Alice Huang, whose Chinese name is Huang Le and who is the businesswoman at the center of the investigation into former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, held stakes in companies that benefited Huawei, Nvidia's biggest competitor in China, CNBC reported on Thursday. The findings, shared exclusively with CNBC, had not been previously reported. The report lands as U.S. intelligence has reportedly alleged that Alice Huang is a Chinese spy, a claim Beijing has denied.
Tesari traced the chain through Chinese corporate records. As early as 2016, Alice Huang became a co-owner of Shanghai Hexi, a financial firm that invests in technology and data centers. In 2021, Hexi bought 27 percent of Shanghai Century Longteng, a data center developer, and held the stake until 2024. That firm owned a controlling 50.1 percent stake in a data center in Shenzhen called Shenzhen Yifeng Technology, whose key customer was Huawei Cloud. Hexi backed the loans that financed the data center.
A second trail through a cloud business
In 2019, Alice Huang sold a cloud business she owned, Osmanthus, to Chinese gaming company 7Road. A Singapore-based subsidiary of 7Road was spun off as Megaspeed in 2023. Megaspeed became a key Nvidia customer, and The Information reported that it helped facilitate at least $7.5 billion in Nvidia chip shipments to Chinese firms.
It is not clear whether the Shenzhen data center received Nvidia graphics chips, CNBC reported, but the center's majority owner began buying the chips in 2023. That owner, Zhejiang Century Huatong Group, is a business partner of Hexi through their joint ownership of Century Longteng. Businesses connected to Alice Huang were linked with supplying Nvidia computing power to Huawei, according to documents reviewed by CNBC, around the time she and Jensen Huang were first publicly seen together, in December 2023.
- Hexi stake in Century Longteng27%, held 2021-2024
- Century Longteng stake in Shenzhen Yifeng50.1%
- Megaspeed Nvidia chip shipmentsAt least $7.5 billion
What investigators say, and what is not proven
Brian Andersen, Tesari's vice president for national security applications and a former supervisory special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said: "This activity, which surfaced through our analysis of Alice's network, warrants a national security and technology counterproliferation investigation." Tesari analysts told CNBC they suspect the chain was designed to deliberately obscure the relationship, a suspicion rather than a finding.
Andersen said that if investigators found evidence that controlled equipment was transferred to Huawei without authorization, possible charges could include export-control violations, conspiracy and smuggling. No charges have been filed. The reporting does not establish that the Shenzhen data center received Nvidia chips or that Alice Huang knowingly enabled unauthorized transfers. Nvidia and Huawei did not respond to CNBC's requests for comment, and Alice Huang could not be reached.
Singapore barred her return; Washington has not concluded
Separately, Singapore barred Alice Huang from re-entering the country after an investigation into possible offences, its home affairs ministry said on Thursday, Reuters reported. She left Singapore in February and was investigated over servers that were exported via Singapore to Malaysia without entering the Singapore market. The ministry said there was insufficient evidence to establish that she had committed any offences, and the investigation did not concern espionage. She was issued a stern warning.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that the Justice Department has not yet reached a conclusion on whether Alice Huang was a Chinese spy, while the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the reports. Jensen Huang has acknowledged having an affair, though the precise timing of his relationship with Alice Huang is unknown. He resigned on Thursday, and Nvidia named chief financial officer Colette Kress interim chief executive.
