The unmasking of his identity, typically rare, was prompted by concerns about potential conflicts of interest between his personal relationships and national security
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US intelligence officials unmasked the identity of former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang in intercepted communications that indicated he was having an affair with an executive of a company under investigation over the possible diversion of sensitive technology to China, according to a CNN report.
The communications, intercepted in the spring, involved Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a company being investigated for allegedly diverting sensitive technology to China. The American involved was initially identified only as a “masked” US person, in keeping with standard intelligence procedures designed to protect the identities of US citizens whose communications are collected while monitoring foreign targets.
However, officials who examined the raw intelligence requested that the American’s identity be “unmasked”, revealing him to be Jensen Huang, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
US Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio subsequently drafted a memo summarising the intelligence and circulated it among a small group of senior officials, including at the White House, according to the report.
The unmasking of a US citizen’s identity in intelligence reporting is unusual. Such requests generally have to be made by a senior official and approved through an adjudication process. The resulting information is also subject to strict access restrictions.
Rubio wanted officials dealing with Jensen Huang on behalf of the US government to know about his relationship with Alice Huang, multiple sources told CNN.
The memo was not prepared specifically for President Donald Trump, but he was briefed on the matter several times. Rubio also discussed the intelligence with Trump aboard Air Force One in May, as the president travelled to Alaska. Jensen Huang was part of the group accompanying Trump on his trip to China, CNN had previously reported.
Trump appeared particularly concerned about the alleged affair, viewing it as a personal embarrassment for the then-Nvidia chief executive, a person familiar with his response told CNN. He also expressed concern about the potential economic implications, given the importance of Nvidia to the US artificial intelligence industry.
Even after Jensen Huang resigned this week amid allegations of additional affairs, Trump has continued to describe the situation in personal terms. He said the former chief executive was “going through hell” and expressed concern for his wife and children. Trump also said it remained unclear whether Alice Huang was a Chinese spy.
Alice Huang had been a significant target of the National Security Agency for at least several months by the spring, sources told CNN. The Justice and Commerce Departments began investigating her company in 2024 as part of a wider inquiry into foreign shell companies suspected of diverting restricted Nvidia chips to China.
Although the intercepted intelligence indicated a relationship between Jensen Huang and Alice Huang, US intelligence agencies are still seeking to establish the extent of her links to the Chinese government, CNN reported.
Several sources who had read Rubio’s memo said sharing the information with officials who interacted with Jensen Huang was a prudent decision.
One source told CNN that the concern was not simply that information could reach China, but that a personal relationship might influence decisions involving sensitive technology.
The source said officials were concerned about the possibility of someone being “coopted to approve deals without due diligence that are at odds with US national security objectives because of a personal relationship”.
There is, however, disagreement within the US government over the strength of the evidence that Alice Huang was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), the country’s main civilian intelligence agency, to spy on Jensen Huang and, potentially, US policymakers.