The scandal that has implicated Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, has highlighted the growing demand in the market for measures to prevent industrial espionage.
Last weekend, he admitted to having a romantic relationship with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. Despite warnings from the U.S. intelligence community about their relationship, Jensen Huang continues to have opportunities to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump and key government officials.
NVIDIA's board of directors has initiated an investigation, but believes that national security or company confidentiality has not been compromised.
However, U.S. officials believe that Megaspeed executive Alice Huang was recruited by China's National Security Department, and surveillance shows that she has been passing information to Beijing, according to relevant reports. The Chinese side denies any espionage activities.
This incident occurred last month: an engineer with the identifier OpenAI was arrested for installing eavesdropping equipment in a company meeting room. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that he was in communication with a member of the Saudi royal family at the time.
In the high-risk competition for dominance over AI, this technology has been regarded as a national security issue, and protecting trade secrets has become particularly important as well.
According to data from the labor force tracking agency Revelio Labs, companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, and AI have begun to recruit for counter-intelligence positions in recent years, with salaries ranging from $200,000 to $500,000.
According to data from Revelio, Reuters reports that Anthropic has hired 33 employees this year so far who are engaged in counter-intelligence functions, which is more than the 14 hired last year and the 9 hired in 2024. In 2025, Anthropic also appointed former CIA Deputy Director David Cohen and former NSA Cybersecurity Director Dave Luber to join its National Security Advisory Committee.
The number of counter-intelligence recruits for OpenAI soared to 22 in 2026, compared to 9 in 2025. In 2024, OpenAI also appointed former National Security Bureau Director Paul Nakasone to join the board of directors.
Despite being embroiled in controversy, NVIDIA actually hired 16 counter-intelligence personnel this year.
"AI has already recruited a large number of security professionals," said Christopher Falkenberg, former CIA agent and current president of Insite Risk Management, to Reuters.
"After some very senior individuals left the government, they began to think about how to provide security services for these companies... The demand exceeded the supply of talent with relevant experience."
Large technology companies are still looking for more talent. Reuters reports that OpenAI is hiring a senior global security investigator, with counter-intelligence listed as a key skill; Anthropic is seeking a threat intelligence security engineer; and ASML is looking for an intelligence officer based in Taiwan.
Former FBI counterintelligence officers Eric O and Neill stated this week that protecting executives should include teaching them to recognize manipulative behavior and providing others with a way to intervene when their bosses are unwilling to listen to opinions.
He said that such contacts usually don't start by demanding that executives hand over company secrets. It may begin with a meeting, a business introduction, a drinking occasion, or even a dating app.
Warning signs can be subtle: rapid advancement in relationships, persistent inquiries about sensitive business matters, requests to meet with influential colleagues, or an encouragement to keep secrets. These signs are even harder to detect when the person under scrutiny is someone trusted by senior management.
"By the time security professionals raise their concerns, this executive may have already invested emotionally and will be unwilling to listen to advice," said O’ Neill.
Of course, the private sector is not the only party that has realized the need to guard against industrial espionage activities. The actions of the U.S. defense and intelligence communities are also becoming more proactive.
Last month, The Washington Post cited sources stating that the Pentagon is planning a spy project to deploy “unofficial cover personnel” disguised as executives, as part of a secret initiative within a larger-scale economic warfare campaign.
"Politician" also reported that the US Department of Defense is quietly establishing an elite agency to secretly undermine foreign technology projects that may threaten America's military superiority.
The Technical Support Office was established in April, reorganizing from two confidential intelligence projects that have been secretly carrying out technical sabotage operations on a smaller scale since 2023.
The Pentagon denied these reports.
Other signs also indicate that the United States is taking economic warfare more seriously. In September, the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Michael Ellis, stated that the U.S. is expanding its espionage activities against China, targeting companies in sensitive areas such as AI, biotechnology, and chips.
In addition, this year the Pentagon has also established an Economic Defense Unit, which, according to sources told DefenseScoop, is intended to "deter, deny, disrupt, and help defeat adversaries" through economic means.
