Key points
- What China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday
- China's response doesn't address Jensen Huang's affair
- China refers Nvidia chip questions to other authorities
China's Foreign Ministry on Monday repeated its denial of a reported spy allegation involving Nvidia (NVDA) chief executive Jensen Huang, calling it a smear against China. The ministry had rejected the allegation on October 30.
Nvidia shares were down 5.0% at $177.32 in premarket trading at 7:49 a.m. ET on November 9, from a $186.64 close on Friday, November 6.
US officials suspected Alice Huang, a former executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed, of gathering information for Beijing, The New York Times reported on October 29. At Monday's regular briefing, AFP asked about Nvidia's board investigation and Huang's acknowledged affair, and NBC asked a similar question. Spokesperson Guo Jiakun answered, "We responded to that last week. The 'Chinese spy' allegation is purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China."
Huang wrote in an email to Nvidia employees on Sunday that he had been unfaithful to his wife. He didn't name the woman, and he referred the "national security concerns raised in news reports" to the board's investigation. Guo's answer addressed the spy allegation, not the affair.
Beijing repeated its October 30 position
Asked about the Times report on October 30, Guo called it "unsubstantiated" and "smears against China."
The Times reported on November 6 that a US memo said officials believed China's Ministry of State Security had recruited Alice Huang. The memo hasn't been released.
China sidesteps two questions on Nvidia chips
Two later questions at the same briefing were about Nvidia's chips. AFP asked about a Reuters report that roughly 600,000 Nvidia AI chips are stored in Hong Kong while Beijing withholds approval for large-scale imports.
Bloomberg asked how China would respond if Washington pushed for tighter tech curbs, including on chips. Its question noted that Huang has argued for selling more chips to China and that Democrats have won Congress.
Guo answered each question separately with the same two sentences, adding "As I just said" the second time: "China's position on the U.S. export of chips to China is consistent. For anything specific, I'd refer you to competent authorities." He didn't say whether Beijing would approve imports of the chips in Hong Kong. In the ministry's Chinese-language transcript, his answer on the Hong Kong chips refers the question to China's own competent authorities.
Nvidia's forecast for the quarter it reports on November 17 assumes no data center compute revenue from China.
Nvidia's next dates are November 11, 17, and 18
Three House committee chairmen asked Huang to give them a closed-door briefing on November 18, or to propose another date by November 11. Nvidia reports fiscal third-quarter results on November 17. The board gave no timeline for its investigation.
Foreign Ministry quotes come from the ministry's English transcripts.
