The scandal surrounding Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang has spread beyond the United States, putting South Korea on high alert. Former intelligence officials warned that foreign agents could target Korean corporate leaders and strategic technologies, especially semiconductors and defense industry assets, after a woman tied to Huang was accused of passing intelligence to China.
According to U.S. intelligence officials, Alice Huang, who worked as a business executive at Singapore-based data center firm Megaspeed in 2023, allegedly collected intelligence and passed it to Beijing. The case erupted amid an intensifying race between the United States and China for leadership in artificial intelligence.
A wake-up call for Seoul
For South Korea, the episode is a sharp reminder of its own exposure. Yoo Seong-ok, a retired intelligence official who served as president of the Institute for National Security Strategy during his career at the National Intelligence Service, said South Korea is equally vulnerable to espionage operations aimed at stealing critical technologies.
"Chinese or North Korean spies, or both, could have used, or may still be using, a similar honey trap to the one allegedly used against Nvidia CEO Huang to gather confidential information and pass it on to their intelligence agencies," he told The Korea Times.
More worrying, Yoo suggested that sensitive information about Samsung Electronics and SK hynix may already have been passed to Chinese rivals, given Nvidia's close business ties with the two Korean chipmakers.
The AI buddy alliance
Jensen Huang has held several meetings with Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong and SK hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won, both in South Korea and the United States, in what has been dubbed the "AI buddy alliance."
"According to media reports, the Nvidia CEO and Alice Huang are said to have been intimate. He could have unconsciously shared details of his meetings with Korean business leaders when talking to the woman. Who knows?" Yoo said.
South Korea has ample reason to be a target of foreign espionage. Its manufacturers play a pivotal role in the global AI industry, supplying the critical components that power AI computing.
Semiconductor dominance in the crosshairs
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix dominate the high-bandwidth memory market, together accounting for more than 80 percent of global market share. Their strategic importance to the global AI supply chain makes both companies, as well as their top executives, potential targets of foreign intelligence operations.
Jang Seok-kwang, another former NIS official, said the Nvidia scandal carries broad implications for South Korea's intelligence community. He noted that foreign intelligence agencies, especially China's, mobilize not only intelligence officers but also people from all walks of life, including students, journalists and businesspeople, to gather information.
Global intelligence buildup, Korean pullback
A clear trend has emerged across the global intelligence community: countries are strengthening their intelligence capabilities to address evolving security challenges.
The European Commission is considering establishing an intelligence body under President Ursula von der Leyen to respond to technological and geopolitical challenges in the AI era. Japan has also undertaken a national security and intelligence overhaul since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office, including the creation of a National Intelligence Council.
South Korea, however, has moved in the opposite direction. In August, the Defense Counterintelligence Command was disbanded over its involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's Dec. 3, 2024, martial law declaration. The NIS's counterintelligence capabilities were also weakened in January 2024, when its authority to detect and investigate espionage cases was transferred to the police.
"Since then, not a single North Korean spy has been apprehended. This suggests that the country is doing virtually nothing about counterintelligence," Yoo said.
Beyond semiconductors
Jang shared similar concerns. He noted that countries around the world have intensified intelligence gathering and analysis to cope with the changing security environment.
"Countries such as China, Russia and North Korea have stepped up espionage operations to obtain critical technologies and intelligence. Given this situation, what South Korea has done makes little sense," he said.
Beyond semiconductors, Jang warned that other strategic sectors, particularly the defense industry, are increasingly becoming targets of foreign espionage. He stressed that South Korea must urgently strengthen its counterintelligence capabilities to protect its strategic technologies, industrial assets and national security.
