China accused the United States on Thursday, November 12, of using allegations of espionage involving Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang to justify restrictions on technology access. Beijing’s response followed reports claiming that a woman with whom Huang had an extramarital affair was connected to Chinese intelligence.
Speaking at a regular briefing, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning rejected the suggestion that China’s technological advances depended on spying. She said the country’s progress came from its own innovation and cooperation with others. Mao urged Washington to stop “fabricating such 'spy' narratives as a pretext for imposing a technological blockade”.
Huang has acknowledged having an extramarital affair. Reports identified the woman involved as Alice Huang, who has been described as a former executive at Megaspeed, a company based in Singapore. US officials reportedly believe she worked for Chinese intelligence. The claims concern whether the Nvidia executive was targeted in a Chinese espionage operation, rather than simply the existence of the affair he admitted.
Beijing has also rejected the allegations surrounding Huang in broader terms, calling them “groundless speculation” and “an attempt to smear China”. Its comments on Thursday reinforced that denial while linking the accusations directly to the dispute with Washington over access to advanced technology.
Huang co-founded Nvidia and built it into the world’s leading supplier of chips used to power artificial intelligence. He has spent years pressing against restrictions on sales of advanced chips to China, putting the company’s access to that market at the centre of his lobbying efforts.
Last year, US President Donald Trump approved exports of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China. That decision faced opposition from hawks in both political parties, who fear that Beijing could win the competition to dominate artificial intelligence technology.
The allegations have therefore emerged against a backdrop of disagreement in the United States over allowing China to buy Nvidia’s advanced products. Mao’s response focused on Beijing’s contention that the spying claims were being used to provide a justification for a technological blockade.
The controversy also comes shortly before a planned meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two leaders are due to meet next week during the APEC gathering in Shenzhen, in southern China.
