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A suspected Chinese spy
Alice Huang starts a firm to sidestep U.S. rules on chips.
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The Fall of Jensen Huang: How the Nvidia Scandal Unfolded
2023
Alice Huang creates the Singaporean data center firm Megaspeed, which originally had Chinese owners. It would soon buy billions of dollars in Nvidia A.I. chips.
December 2023
It’s not clear when Nvidia’s chief first met Alice Huang or when their affair began, but in 2023 the two have dinner with colleagues at a Singapore restaurant.
June 7, 2024
June 2024 to June 2025
Over 12 months, a Megaspeed subsidiary receives more than 200 shipments of restricted Nvidia A.I. equipment, according to a Times investigation. Since June 2024 it has spent $4.8 billion on A.I. chips.
Late 2024
The Commerce Department begins to investigate whether Megaspeed was diverting Nvidia’s advanced A.I. chips to China and evading U.S. export controls.
Jan. 31, 2025
Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, and Mr. Trump meet in the Oval Office about two weeks after the inauguration.
March 2025
April 4, 2025
Mr. Huang attends a Mar-a-Lago donors’ dinner, reported to cost $1 million a person, to make the case to Mr. Trump for letting chip companies do business with China.
April 14, 2025
April 15, 2025
The Trump administration places its first major limits on A.I. chip sales outside the U.S., toughening rules created by the Biden administration.
April 30, 2025
May 2025
May 22, 2025
July 10, 2025
July 14, 2025
Reversing course, the Trump administration assures Nvidia that licenses for the sale of a China-specific A.I. chip would now be granted.
Sept. 18, 2025
Oct. 29, 2025
October 2025
Intelligence officials share that Ms. Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset who had a relationship with Mr. Huang. Mr. Trump chooses not to act, wary of disrupting chip sales.
Late 2025
The Commerce Department’s investigation into Megaspeed is transferred to the Justice Department following an August email from Nvidia’s general counsel.
Dec. 8, 2025
Mr. Trump approves sales of Nvidia’s second-most-powerful chip to China, and said a portion of the revenue would go to the U.S. government.
March 2026
The Nvidia chief had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, an executive who reported to him. The two were seen being affectionate in March.
March 30, 2026
May 12, 2026
May 12, 2026
The president is reminded of intelligence showing that Mr. Huang was in a relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy.
Sept. 14, 2026
Sept. 24, 2026
Sept. 29, 2026
Oct. 8, 2026
Nov. 5, 2026
The Republican leaders of three House committees ask Mr. Huang to appear later in November for a closed-door briefing about Ms. Huang and Nvidia’s safeguards against foreign espionage.
Nov. 8, 2026
Mr. Huang acknowledges a romantic relationship with Ms. Huang. Nvidia said it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised but that it would start an investigation.
Nov. 9, 2026
At a news conference, Mr. Trump says he had not heard about Mr. Huang’s relationship with Ms. Huang at the time of his May trip to China.
Nov. 11, 2026
Nov. 12, 2026
The company announces that its chief financial officer, Colette Kress, would serve as interim chief executive.
Nov. 12, 2026
The Senate Banking Committee asks Mr. Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to appear on Dec. 3 and threatens a subpoena.
