The key facts

  • The New York Times: Trump received a briefing from Rubio en route to China — the second time in seven months
  • Trump denies knowing about it during the visit and calls the Nvidia chief 'a very worthy man'
  • China rejects the accusations; Taiwan, according to the interior minister, is 'actively investigating' the case

Briefing aboard Air Force One

In May, US President Donald Trump received a briefing aboard Air Force One on his way to China about intelligence indicating that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had ties to a suspected agent of Chinese intelligence, The New York Times reports, citing informed sources. According to the outlet, the briefing was conducted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio shortly before Huang, at Trump's invitation, joined the presidential delegation. This was reportedly the second time in seven months that Trump received intelligence about Huang's ties to Alice Huang, whom American officials suspected of working for China's Ministry of State Security.

Contradiction with public statements

On Monday, when asked whether he had known about these ties during his trip to China, Trump said: 'No, I hadn't heard about it at the time,' while defending the Nvidia chief, calling him 'a very worthy man.' The NYT report about the May briefing contradicts this statement. Trump also said that Huang would not fly with him on his next visit to China.

Beijing's reaction and the investigation in Taiwan

China rejected the accusations: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called the 'so-called accusation of Chinese espionage' baseless and 'nothing short of slander against China.' Alice Huang, according to sources, is not a relative of the Nvidia chief. According to Taiwan Times, she entered Taiwan on a Hong Kong passport: she was photographed next to Jensen Huang at an industry event in Taipei in June 2024, and in May 2025 she attended a dinner he hosted as part of the Computex exhibition; the dates of some of her entries are not disclosed. Taiwan began tracking her visits in 2024 at Washington's request amid suspicions related to large purchases of advanced Nvidia chips by Megaspeed, a company linked to her and to Singapore. Taiwan's Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang said intelligence agencies are 'actively investigating' the alleged espionage case.