Private firm maps ties between Alice Huang and Huawei through data-center links

What Tesari found

Tesari, a firm that provides intelligence work for private-sector clients and the U.S. government, said it used artificial intelligence in a national security investigation to piece together a network linking Alice Huang to entities that provided computing power used by Huawei in China. The firm shared the material exclusively with CNBC, which it said included Chinese corporate filings and media reports translated from Mandarin.

Analysts at Tesari told CNBC the structure looked intentionally complicated, consistent with efforts they have seen before to mask relationships. Brian Andersen, who leads the firm's national-security projects and previously served as a supervisory special agent at Homeland Security Investigations, said, "This activity, which surfaced through our analysis of Alice's network, warrants a national security and [technology] counterproliferation investigation." He added that if investigators found anyone transferred "controlled equipment" to Huawei without authorization, potential charges could include export-control violations, conspiracy and smuggling.

The ownership web and the Huawei link

Per the documents, Alice Huang - Chinese name Huang Le and listed as based in Hong Kong at the time - sold a cloud venture called Osmanthus in 2019 to Chinese gaming company 7Road. A 7Road unit in Singapore was later carved out in 2023 as "Megaspeed." The Information reported that Megaspeed became a major Nvidia buyer, helping move at least $7.5 billion of Nvidia chips to Chinese customers.

As early as 2016, Huang was a co-owner of Shanghai Hexi, an investment firm focused on technology and data-center assets. In 2021, Hexi bought 27 percent of Shanghai Century Longteng, a data-center developer, and held that stake until 2024. Shanghai Century Longteng held a 50.1 percent controlling interest in a mainland operation named Shenzhen Yifeng Technology Co., Ltd., whose primary client was Huawei Cloud, Huawei Technologies' Shenzhen based cloud arm. Hexi also guaranteed the borrowings that funded the Shenzhen build out, which did business with Huawei.

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That structure meant Huang held an indirect stake in a facility providing computing resources to Huawei. The timing overlaps with when Huang and Jensen Huang were first spotted together in public in December 2023. Jensen Huang has publicly admitted to an affair, though the exact timeline with Alice Huang is not specified.

Chips, partners, timing and responses

It is not clear whether the Shenzhen data center itself obtained Nvidia GPUs, but the majority owner of that center - Zhejiang Century Huatong Group - started purchasing Nvidia chips in 2023. Zhejiang Century Huatong and Hexi are connected through their joint ownership of Shanghai Century Longteng. Hexi exited its Longteng stake in 2024, yet individuals tied to Alice Huang remain linked to the Shenzhen operation: her husband, Kang Wei, founded Hexi, where Huang earlier served in an executive capacity; in 2022 he became an executive at Century Longteng, which holds the controlling interest in the Shenzhen site, and he was present for the company's ceremony to sign the Huawei agreement.

In 2024, Nvidia identified Huawei as a leading rival in artificial intelligence chips, pointing to graphics processors, central processors, and networking chips. A photo released June 7, 2024 shows NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang with a woman Reuters confirmed was Alice Huang in Taipei, Taiwan. CNBC said requests for comment to Nvidia and Huawei went unanswered; a voicemail message left on Jensen Huang's mobile phone was not returned; and CNBC could not reach Alice Huang.

The investor angle

Huawei is described as a Chinese government "state champion" in tech and telecom, backed by significant state support and with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. That context, combined with Tesari's call for possible export-control scrutiny, keeps regulatory risk squarely in view for anyone exposed to AI hardware supply chains in China. In plain English: ownership trails that touch cloud buyers and chip flows can become material if authorities open cases, publish findings, or restrict gear.

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