CNN: US Intercepts on Jensen Huang's Affair With a Megaspeed Executive Led to a Classified Rubio Memo
NEW: Intel intercepts implicating Jensen Huang in affair sparked classified Rubio memo The US intelligence community intercepted communications in the spring indicating that an executive of Megaspeed, a company under investigation for possibly diverting sensitive technology to China, was having an affair with a US person. The American was “masked” in the intelligence reporting, a standard procedure used by intelligence agencies to protect the privacy of US persons whose communications might be picked up during the monitoring of foreign targets, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. But upon seeing the raw intelligence, US officials requested that the American’s name be “unmasked”— revealing the individual to be the now-former NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, the sources said. Marco Rubio then drafted a memo summarizing the intelligence and disseminated it to a very small group of senior US officials, including at the White House, the sources said.
Context
CNN's report, if accurate, adds a classified intelligence paper trail to the story of why the US government turned on Nvidia's longtime CEO.
Natasha Bertrand of CNN reported on November 13 that US intelligence intercepts in the spring indicated an affair between Jensen Huang, then Nvidia's CEO, and an executive at Megaspeed, a firm under investigation for possibly diverting sensitive technology to China. According to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN, officials asked for the American in the intercepts to be unmasked, the person was identified as Huang, and Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio drafted a classified memo that went to a small group of senior officials, including at the White House. CNN names the Megaspeed executive as Alice Huang.
Deep dive
Natasha Bertrand, a CNN national security correspondent, posted on November 13 and linked to a CNN report that US intelligence intercepts in the spring indicated an executive of Megaspeed was having an affair with a US person. Sources familiar with the matter told CNN that the American was first masked in the reporting, a standard privacy step, and that officials then asked for the name to be unmasked, revealing former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
According to those sources, Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio drafted a memo summarizing the intelligence and sent it to a very small group of senior US officials, including at the White House. CNN says it is unusual for a US person's identity to be unmasked, and that such a request typically has to come from a very senior official.
CNN names the Megaspeed executive as Alice Huang and says Rubio wanted officials to be aware of the relationship when they dealt with Jensen Huang. Sources told CNN the memo was not written specifically for President Donald Trump, but that he was briefed more than once, including verbally by Rubio aboard Air Force One in May, when Huang joined the president's travel group to China.
A person familiar with Trump's response told CNN he appeared at least partly focused on the affair as an embarrassing personal matter and also voiced concern for the US economy. After Huang resigned, CNN reports, Trump said the former CEO was "going through hell," was concerned for his wife and children, and said the question of whether Alice Huang was a Chinese spy was unsettled.
CNN says Alice Huang had been an important National Security Agency target by the spring, and that Justice and Commerce began an investigation into her firm in 2024 as part of a broader probe into shell companies suspected of diverting restricted Nvidia chips to China. Officials still disagree on her relationship with the Chinese government, CNN has reported, and Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that Justice and the FBI have reached no conclusions about who she is or is not.
What to expect next
Watch for any official confirmation of the memo, and for what investigators say about Megaspeed and Alice Huang as Commerce and Justice continue their work. Nvidia reports third quarter results on November 17, and further official comment from the White House or from Huang could change how this report is read. Any public statement from Rubio, or a denial from Huang, would also test the sources who spoke to CNN.