The "Alice Huang affair" is rocking Mr. Nvidia and his company, which is plummeting on Wall Street. Shareholders of the global AI microchip giant have filed a class-action lawsuit, and the FBI has launched an investigation, announced in an unprecedented way by Donald Trump ("I think everything will be fine for him"), in a matter that is urgent for national security. Jensen Huang is increasingly in trouble and, despite the US president's renewed support, must contend with a lawsuit filed by the Rosen Law Firm in federal court in San Jose, California, accusing him of failing to disclose to shareholders information about his ties to the Chinese woman later accused of passing sensitive information and chips to Beijing, as an intelligence agent for the Ministry of State Security.

The shareholders' anger is easily explained: the company, once the world's most valuable company and the first to surpass the monstrous $5 trillion mark, has burned through over $400 billion in a couple of trading sessions and has slipped to third place among the world's most valuable companies, surpassed by Microsoft and Apple, with the feared domino effect threatening to overwhelm the entire artificial intelligence sector. Huang, co-founder in 1993 and a shareholder of Nvidia, owning 3.6% as the largest individual shareholder, first laid the groundwork for the company's transformation into an AI microchip manufacturer and then launched the latest development with American financial giants: calibrating computing infrastructure such as commercial real estate, toll roads, or other assets that can be used as collateral for loans.

A significant revolution in the explosive financing methods of AI infrastructure. Born in Taiwan, Huang had established a very close relationship since at least 2024 with Alice Huang, a top Chinese executive (and possibly founder) of the Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, which was active in purchasing AI chips from Nvidia. The spy manager, who has since disappeared, had boasted in China, according to the Financial Times, that she could guarantee Nvidia GPUs, the AI engine capable of millions of mathematical calculations, despite US government restrictions. This frenetic activity, estimated at around €7.5 billion, is behind Megaspeed's explosive revenue, which rose from €33 million in 2023 to €3.3 billion in 2024. Nvidia, among other things, is accused of making false and misleading statements about its relationship with Megaspeed, which is under scrutiny by Singaporean intelligence agencies over its relations with China. In an interview on October 30, Huang assured that "all of Megaspeed's GPU installations have been counted one by one," ruling out any violations.

On Sunday, following the CEO's relationship, Nvidia announced the launch of an independent investigation into reports that Huang had been a "target of foreign intelligence" from China, a matter already highlighted in a memo within the Trump administration in the spring. Beijing rejected the accusation, calling it a smear. However, following the landslide victory in the midterm elections, Democrats are sharpening their weapons: three House committees have already requested closed-door hearings with Huang on his relationship with Megaspeed, as well as his influence on the Trump administration's AI policies and the sale of microchips abroad. Analysts say the Nvidia board should urgently begin succession planning at the helm of the company, given the critical situation. Another setback could be on the horizon: if Huang's wife, Lori Mills, were to decide to end their marriage, the CEO could be forced to sacrifice half of his fortune. An outlay of nearly $80 billion, according to Forbes estimates, equal to one of the most expensive divorces in history.

(Unioneonline)

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