China says report on spying on Nvidia CEO has "no basis"
Chinese Foreign Ministry denies allegations of spying on Jensen Huang, while US reports indicate a relationship between Huang and MegaSpeed.
Translated by Qiyas from كويت نيوز — Original source
Beijing said on Friday that claims of a Chinese espionage plot targeting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang were mere “speculation without any basis.”
Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, said at a regular press briefing that a report on the matter by the U.S. newspaper The New York Times was “based on speculation without any basis and amounted to nothing more than an attempt to smear China’s reputation.”
The newspaper reported that U.S. intelligence officials concluded that a Chinese executive linked to MegaSpeed, a data center company based in Singapore, was working for Chinese intelligence and transmitting information to Beijing.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with the investigation, the newspaper added that the company was under scrutiny over suspicions that it was diverting Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips to China.
However, executive Alice Huang, also known as Huang Li and not related to Jensen Huang, has developed a close relationship with the Nvidia chief, according to The New York Times.
This may have enabled her to gain access to plans by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding artificial intelligence, a topic expected to be discussed during his scheduled talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month.
The report noted that Trump was briefed on this intelligence about a year ago and chose not to take any action on it.
Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo told AFP on Friday that MegaSpeed is “just another customer in the region” and that “Jensen’s communication with Ms. Huang is neither unusual nor unexpected.”
He added that “our regional cloud services partners receive routine business information, not sensitive trade secrets of Nvidia, and receive no information related to national security.”
The spokesperson further stated that allegations that the Singapore-based company was smuggling electronic chips to China “were thoroughly investigated and debunked last year.”
When AFP attempted to contact the number listed on MegaSpeed’s website for a comment, the person who answered the phone said they had no knowledge of the company and that the number belonged to a private residence.
