The allegations surrounding former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang have an uncanny resonance with the history of China’s technological rise. US authorities are reportedly examining whether Alice Huang, suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset, used her relationship with the former Nvidia chief and a network of companies to facilitate access to restricted AI chips. According to a report, the network may have helped move at least $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia processors to Chinese companies. Nvidia’s board has initiated an investigation, while the FBI is examining whether Huang was targeted. The investigations would go on and other details may come out, but the episode brings into focus a larger contest that has been unfolding for decades: China’s determined effort to acquire, absorb, and eventually master Western technology.