In Depth: Chinese Woman Linked to Nvidia CEO Has Ties to Shady Shanghai Fund Manager - Caixin Global

Before emerging at the heart of a scandal with Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang, Alice Huang worked at a Shanghai private equity firm alongside a veteran fund manager who was fined by Chinese securities regulators and now under criminal scrutiny, according to public filings and people familiar with the matter.
Alice Huang, in her 40s and whose Chinese name is Huang Le, was a major shareholder and senior executive at Shanghai Hexi Investment Co. Ltd., a private equity firm founded by veteran fund manager Kang Wei.
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1. Alice Huang (Huang Le), in her 40s, was a major shareholder and senior executive at Shanghai Hexi Investment, founded by veteran fund manager Kang Wei [para. 1][para. 2]. She and Kang were married and worked on gaming and data-center deals involving Zhejiang Century Huatong and 7Road before she moved to Singapore’s data-center firm Megaspeed [para. 3][para. 4].
2. Scrutiny came after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s Nov. 8 email admitting infidelity; the board began an independent investigation [para. 6]. The New York Times identified Alice Huang as a Megaspeed executive and said U.S. intelligence believed she was a Chinese intelligence asset; China rejected the allegation as a smear [para. 5][para. 7].
3. Huang entered finance in 2008 at HSBC and later Citic Securities [para. 10]. In November 2015 she joined Hexi as deputy general manager and investment-committee member; Hexi had ties to Citic, whose Hexi No. 6 fund raised over 1 billion yuan ($150 million) [para. 11][para. 12][para. 13]. She took a 25% stake from Kang, who kept 48.75%, with Zhu Xiaoming holding 26.25% [para. 14].
4. Kang, now 51, led Zhonghai Fund at 32 in 2007 and founded Hexi in 2010 [para. 15][para. 16]. Huang became a close partner from late 2016; after Kang and Zhu split in 2017, Zhu left and lawsuits followed [para. 17][para. 18].
5. In 2014, Hexi invested 20 million yuan in Century Huatong, buying about 2.79 million shares at 7.17 yuan each; holdings doubled to 5.58 million [para. 20][para. 21][para. 23]. By September 2017 the stock reached 34.20 yuan, making the stake worth over 190 million yuan — an unrealized gain of about 171 million, more than eight times the investment; bonus distribution fueled the Kang-Zhu conflict [para. 24][para. 25].
6. Century Huatong sold Hangzhou Shengfeng to a Hexi-linked, Kang-controlled partnership for 500 million yuan, generating an after-tax gain of 413 million yuan [para. 26][para. 27][para. 28]. Hexi entities later joined Century Huatong’s data-center push: in 2020, Century Huatong raised over 9 billion yuan for Shanghai Longrui, a Tencent-linked project planned at up to 45 billion yuan; in March 2021, a 50.1% Longrui stake was sold to GLP for 4 billion yuan [para. 29][para. 30][para. 31][para. 32]. Hexi also joined data-center projects in Shenzhen and a proposed 8.2 billion yuan Wuhu park [para. 33].
7. Hexi-linked investors were part of 7Road’s ownership after its 2015 acquisition from Changyou, before its 2018 listing [para. 35][para. 36]. In 2019, 7Road agreed to pay 1 billion yuan for 12 gaming companies via an offshore structure involving Huang and Maple Vale; Huang was registered shareholder, while Hexi was the ultimate controlling party [para. 37][para. 38]. The assets included Hangzhou Shengfeng [para. 39]. In March 2023, Megaspeed’s shares were transferred to Huang Le Ltd., and she became managing director; about eight months later shares moved to Swiftdata and she left the board, though The Wall Street Journal reported continued control [para. 42][para. 43][para. 44].
8. Regulators found Hexi failed to aggregate Huiqiu shareholdings that exceeded 5% and reached 8.3% in March 2015, after a fund helped Gu Guoping finance a stake with 150 million yuan of Citic financing against a 50 million yuan deposit; combined funding exceeded 1.8 billion yuan [para. 48][para. 49][para. 50][para. 51]. In 2018, the CSRC fined Hexi 17.7 million yuan and Kang 400,000 yuan [para. 52]. Hexi also acquired economic rights to a 24.31% Phicomm stake for 450 million yuan with a 35% repurchase premium, unfulfilled after Gu’s illegal-fundraising scandal [para. 53][para. 54].
9. In 2020, Kang-controlled vehicles agreed to buy 29.91% of Hollyland for about 927 million yuan; Tang Qiqing’s stake was financed largely by Kang [para. 55][para. 56][para. 57]. The regulator found Kang had significant influence, but the company named Tang sole controller [para. 58][para. 59]. The CSRC fined Kang 2.5 million yuan and Tang 1.5 million in August 2025; Kang was warned in June 2026 [para. 60][para. 61]. Shanghai police detained Kang around Lunar New Year on suspected stock manipulation [para. 62][para. 63]. Hexi now manages 1–2 billion yuan with 11 staff and funds stuck in liquidation [para. 64].
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