Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, resigned on Thursday amid reports that he had been involved in an affair with a female client. According to the New York Times, U.S. intelligence agencies identified the woman as a Chinese spy. The reporting also indicated that Huang had a separate, unrelated affair with a company executive who reported directly to him. NPR has not independently verified the details provided by the Times.
The Chinese government responded to the news by dismissing the accusation of spying as nothing but smears against the nation. The incident has brought renewed attention to a classic espionage technique known as the honey trap, which involves using a romantic or sexual relationship to extract information from a target.
This tactic has deep roots in Chinese intelligence operations. Former CIA officers and other U.S. officials familiar with Chinese spy craft say that the Ministry of State Security, China's primary civilian intelligence agency, routinely recruits women and occasionally men for these operations. Targets often include businessmen engaged in industrial espionage or officials who can provide insights into foreign economic and political strategies.
Peter Mattis, a former CIA counter-intelligence analyst and president of the Jamestown Foundation, noted that these operations serve as influence tools. Spies aim to build enough trust with their targets to shape their perspectives on China. He emphasized that the Ministry of State Security values the tradition of penetrating an enemy's decision-making processes.
Nicholas Eftimiades, a former CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency official who now teaches at Penn State, described the honey trap as just one element of a broader strategy. He explained that China employs a whole of society approach to intelligence gathering, unlike Western agencies such as the CIA or MI6. Under the National Intelligence Law of 2017, Chinese citizens are legally required to cooperate with intelligence collection efforts.
The woman central to the Nvidia case, Alice Huang, is a Chinese businesswoman whose company, Megaspeed, was a significant purchaser of advanced chips from Nvidia. The Times reported that U.S. surveillance of Huang revealed her connections to Chinese state security through her communications. However, Desmond Shum, a Hong Kong businessman and former China insider, suggested that Huang may not fit the typical spy profile.
Shum described Huang as a white glove, or a front person for large commercial deals, which might have provided her some insulation from direct intelligence operations. He argued that she is likely not a professional spy, citing her lack of discretion on social media where she posted photos from luxury trips. A spy would typically avoid such public displays, Shum told NPR from his home in the United Kingdom.
Isaac Stone Fish, a former reporter in China who runs the business intelligence firm Strategy Risks, suggested that the Ministry of State Security may have approached Huang after learning of her relationship with the Nvidia CEO. He noted that it is common for the agency to monitor Chinese individuals who enter romantic relationships with powerful Americans.
Honey traps are a common theme in spy fiction, appearing in works such as Black Doves, The Americans, and James Bond films. In reality, the practice is often humiliating for the individuals involved and can perpetuate sexist and racist stereotypes. While many intelligence services, including those of Russia, East Germany, and Israel, have historically used similar tactics, the methods have evolved over time.
Investigative reporter Yossi Melman, who has written extensively on Israeli intelligence, said that Mossad used honey traps from the 1950s to the 1970s but has since shifted toward cyber spying as it proved more efficient. U.S. officials now often prefer to recruit agents based on ideological alignment or financial incentives rather than sexual entrapment. Despite frequent warnings to officials and business leaders, Eftimiades noted that human weaknesses like ego and vanity continue to make these operations successful.
