Nvidia’s market capitalization fell by more than $400 billion yesterday after reports emerged that the Nvidia CEO’s affair had facilitated billion-dollar chip imports into China. Jensen Huang’s mistress is said to have enabled shipments of AI accelerators worth several billion dollars, some of which are subject to export restrictions, into the country. US President Donald Trump is also under continued pressure, since he is said to have been informed several times about the woman’s possible espionage activities but ignored them.
Over the weekend, Jensen Huang admitted the affair and Nvidia launched an investigation. The woman involved, Alice Huang, who despite sharing the same surname is not related to him, is not only a business partner of Nvidia and Huang but is also said to be a Chinese agent. Although China rejected the espionage allegation, the country and Chinese companies are also said to have benefited in other ways from the woman’s activities.
Web of companies behind billion-dollar chip imports
And now, The Information, citing two people familiar with Alice Huang, reports that she facilitated shipments of Nvidia chips worth at least $7.5 billion to China through a network of companies. This reportedly involved more than 240,000 A100, H100 and H200 systems, with Nvidia’s A100 and H100 having been practically excluded from the Chinese market since the US sanctions against China’s semiconductor industry were imposed in October 2022.
Videos by heise
