"The honeypot still works"... U.S. users mock Jensen Huang after he admits affair

Jensen Huang's Admission of an Affair Draws Mockery Online in the U.S.

Alice Huang, Suspected of Being a Chinese Intelligence Operative, Was the Other Woman

U.S. Congress Requests Closed-Door Briefing on Nov. 18

Online users in the United States have responded with a string of mocking comments after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, 63, acknowledged having an affair with a woman suspected of being recruited by Chinese intelligence agencies.

According to U.S. outlet Axios, the UK's Financial Times (FT) and others on Nov. 8 (local time), Huang said in a message to employees that day, "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt my wife and children. There is no excuse," adding, "I deeply apologize." He also said, "Leading Nvidia is the privilege of my life," and added, "I failed to live up to that responsibility."

"Hard to believe an old trick still works": U.S. online users mock the story

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. AP-Yonhap News

A post about the news by Pop Base, a U.S. pop culture news account, on X (formerly Twitter) received more than 760,000 views. One comment said, "He should give us a discount on GPUs as an apology." A breaking news post by a Bloomberg reporter drew the comment, "It's funny that the honeypot tactic still works so well. It's the oldest trick in the book."

On the investing forum WallStreetBets (r/wallstreetbets) on Reddit, users shared reports, published even before Huang's admission, that U.S. intelligence officials believed he had been caught up in a "honeypot" operation involving a Chinese spy. Some expressed concern about Nvidia's future stock performance. A reader comment on a related article by U.S. technology publication Tom's Hardware said, "If intelligence officials say she's a spy, it's probably true," while adding, "I'm not so sure about the honeypot part." Others voiced concern for Huang's wife, Lori Huang.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Alice Huang, who is suspected of being a Chinese government spy, sit side by side at a bar in Taipei, Taiwan, in June 2024. Photo: LinkedIn

The woman with whom Huang acknowledged having an affair is Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singaporean data center company and an Nvidia customer. Major foreign media outlets, including The New York Times (NYT), previously reported that U.S. intelligence officials had identified Alice Huang in classified documents as an intelligence operative recruited by China's Ministry of State Security (MSS). Intelligence officials believe she was tasked with gathering information on Nvidia's advanced AI chips and influencing the company's export policies. Tom's Hardware also reported that Alice Huang was connected to a company suspected of smuggling AI chips worth $2 billion (approximately 2.72 trillion won).

In an interview with Bloomberg last month, Huang said of his interactions with Alice Huang, "They were related to Megaspeed, and everything was completely normal." Nvidia has also said that the two were in contact as part of routine customer business and that no sensitive information was shared.

Nvidia's board of directors said that day, "A committee of independent directors will oversee an investigation with the assistance of outside independent legal counsel." However, it said there was "no basis to believe that national security or company secrets were compromised," and that Huang would continue to lead the company as CEO without interruption.

U.S. lawmakers prepare to summon Huang for questioning... China calls claims "baseless speculation"

Both Republicans and Democrats in the United States are calling for an investigation. Three Republican committee chairs—House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford—sent Huang a letter on Nov. 4 asking him to attend a closed-door joint briefing on Nov. 18. "It is critically important for Congress to understand the extent to which U.S. national security is at risk," they said in the letter. Democrat Seth Magaziner also urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Huang to testify before Congress together.

Huang has repeatedly argued that the U.S. government should ease restrictions on AI semiconductor exports to China. The NYT reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had warned senior officials in the Trump Administration about the relationship between Huang and Alice Huang. The NYT also reported that President Donald Trump had received a briefing on the matter from intelligence officials but took no notable action.

The Chinese government denied the allegations. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a regular briefing on Oct. 30, "The reports are baseless speculation and are purely an attempt to frame and smear China."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.