China dismisses a spy plot claim involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as smear campaign

BANGKOK (AP) — China denied on Monday there was a spy plot attempt to ensnare Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang , calling the spying allegations unsubstantiated and a smear campaign against Beijing.

Huang has acknowledged to the Nvidia board that he had been intimate with a business executive who U.S. intelligence determined was gathering information for Beijing, according to The New York Times.

“The so-called Chinese spy allegation is unsubstantiated. It is nothing but smears against China,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday.

The chips company CEO is at the center of a controversy over whether he drove sales of advanced computer chips to China, in spite of U.S. tech restrictions aimed at limiting China’s ability to access these advanced technologies.

Nvidia said on Sunday that the company would launch an investigation into the case. Huang did not name the person in the extramarital affair.

China had previously denied the New York Times report that said Huang had developed a close relationship with a Chinese citizen named Alice Huang, who ran a company that faced claims of smuggling advanced chips into China, and that she was a spy for Beijing.

Huang had pushed to loosen chip sales restrictions to China, successfully lobbying U.S. President Donald Trump to allow his company to sell H200 chips.

While those chips are not Nvidia's most cutting-edge models, they are still advanced. However, it is uncertain if Beijing would allow Chinese companies to buy these chips en masse.

Associated Press business writer Chan Ho-him in Hong Kong contributed to this report.