CNBC Report Links Alice Huang to Businesses With Huawei Ties

Reported business connections

CNBC reported that Alice Huang, whose Chinese name is Huang Le, held interests in Chinese companies connected to a data center serving Huawei Cloud, according to findings by private intelligence firm Tesari that were shared exclusively with CNBC. CNBC said it translated and reviewed Chinese corporate records and media reports compiled by Tesari.

The report describes the following ownership chain:

• Alice Huang became a co-owner of Shanghai Hexi, a financial firm investing in technology and data centers, as early as 2016.
• In 2021, Hexi acquired a 27 percent stake in Shanghai Century Longteng, a data center developer, and held it until 2024.
• Century Longteng owned a controlling 50.1 percent stake in Shenzhen Yifeng Technology, a data center facility in mainland China whose key customer was Huawei Cloud.
• Hexi also guaranteed loans used to finance the Shenzhen facility.

CNBC said it was unclear whether the Shenzhen data center itself acquired Nvidia graphics processing units. Its majority owner, Zhejiang Century Huatong Group, began purchasing Nvidia chips in 2023, according to the report.

Relationship and timing

CNBC reported that businesses connected to Alice Huang were linked with supplying Nvidia computing power to Huawei around the same time she and former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang were first publicly seen together, in December 2023. Jensen Huang has acknowledged having an affair, though the precise timing of his relationship with Alice Huang is unknown, according to CNBC.

The report also noted that Alice Huang's husband, Kang Wei, founded Hexi and became an executive at Century Longteng in 2022, attending the company's signing of its Huawei agreement. Hexi exited its stake in Century Longteng in 2024, but individuals within Alice Huang's network remained connected to the Shenzhen data center, CNBC reported.

National security comment

Brian Andersen, Tesari's vice president for national security applications and a former supervisory special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said: "This activity, which surfaced through our analysis of Alice's network, warrants a national security and [technology] counterproliferation investigation."

Andersen said that if the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security and Homeland Security Investigations found evidence that anyone transferred "controlled equipment" to Huawei without authorization, potential charges might include export-control violations, conspiracy and smuggling. Tesari analysts told CNBC they suspected the corporate structure was designed to deliberately obscure the relationship, based on their previous investigative experience.

Nvidia and Huawei did not respond to CNBC's requests for comment. Jensen Huang did not respond to a voicemail left on a mobile phone. Alice Huang could not be reached.

Why it matters

The reported connections overlap with a period when Alice Huang and Jensen Huang were first seen publicly together, and they involve a data center whose key customer was Huawei Cloud, which CNBC described as Nvidia's No. 1 competitor in China. The report does not establish that Alice Huang directed any transfer of controlled equipment, and CNBC said it could not determine whether the Shenzhen data center obtained Nvidia GPUs.

Sources

• cnbc.com: Alice Huang connected to Nvidia’s Chinese competitor Huawei
• finance.yahoo.com: Alice Huang Held Stake in Data Center Network Serving a Chinese Nvidia Rival: Report
• hindustantimes.com: Alice Huang linked to businesses that worked with Nvidia's Chinese competitor Huawei: Report | World News
• livemint.com: Alice Huang linked to Huawei? What we know about Jensen Huang's lover's ties to Nvidia's Chinese rival | Company Business News
• economictimes.indiatimes.com: The Huawei connection: Alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang in Jensen Huang affair saga linked to Nvidia rival - The Economic Times

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.