BEIJING: China rejected on Monday claims that it had spied on Jensen Huang, chief executive of US chip giant Nvidia, calling the allegations “baseless.”
“We have responded to this matter previously. The narrative of a so-called Chinese spy is entirely baseless vilification and smearing,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing, after the company’s board announced it had opened a probe into media reports alleging “a foreign intelligence effort.”
Meanwhile, Nvidia’s board announced Sunday it had opened a probe into Jensen Huang after he acknowledged an affair with a woman US officials say was working for Chinese intelligence, a claim Beijing denied.
Late last month, The New York Times reported that US intelligence officials concluded that Alice Huang, a Chinese executive linked to a Singapore-based data centre company called Megaspeed, had been funnelling information to Beijing.
The executive, also known as Huang Le, and no relation to 63-year-old Taiwanese-born Jensen Huang, developed a close relationship with the Nvidia boss, the Times said.
In a message to company employees released Sunday, the Nvidia chief acknowledged having an affair and apologised to his family and company staff.
“I was unfaithful to my wife,” he said. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
Jensen Huang is a huge figure in the artificial intelligence revolution and a close informal adviser to US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly spoken out against regulating the industry so as not to let China gain the upper hand in the AI race.
The Times said Alice Huang’s relationship with the Nvidia chief could have given her insights into Trump’s thinking around AI.
The issue of AI is likely to arise during Trump’s planned talks with President Xi Jinping later this month at a summit in China.
Asked on Sunday whether the Nvidia chief would be joining the president’s trip to Asia, which includes the Asia-Pacific summit in China’s Shenzhen, Trump told reporters: “I don’t know but I’ll certainly take him.”
Trump said Huang was “a fine person, but you never know what’s going on. I’m sure — I hope everything’s fine. He’s done such an incredible job.”
Nvidia said in a statement it had opened an independent probe “in light of recent reporting that Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.”
The statement added: “While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board’s inquiry will examine all available information.”
China is in a race for tech dominance with the United States, which restricts the export to China of the most cutting-edge silicon chips.
Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings about Huang’s relationship with the businesswoman roughly a year ago and chose not to act on the information, the Times report said.