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Nvidia Probes CEO Huang Over China Spying ClaimsTechnology
Nvidia has opened an independent probe into chief executive Jensen Huang after reports linked him to a woman US officials say worked for Chinese intelligence.
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Nvidia has opened an independent investigation into its founder and chief executive, Jensen Huang, after he acknowledged an affair with a woman whom United States officials say was working for Chinese intelligence.
The company’s board announced on Sunday that it had opened the probe, which follows reporting late last month by The New York Times that US intelligence officials had concluded the woman, a Chinese executive linked to the Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed, had been funnelling information to Beijing. The executive is Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, who is no relation to Jensen Huang. She had developed a close relationship with the 63-year-old, Taiwanese-born chief executive, according to the report.
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Megaspeed was already under scrutiny over claims it may have been steering Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips to China. In a message to employees released on Sunday, Huang acknowledged the affair and apologised. “I was unfaithful to my wife,” he said. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
Huang is a towering figure in the AI revolution and a close informal adviser to President Donald Trump. The Times reported that the relationship could have given the woman insights into Trump’s thinking around AI, and the issue could arise during Trump’s planned talks with President Xi Jinping later this month at a summit in China.
In its statement, Nvidia said the board had opened the inquiry “in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort,” adding: “While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board’s inquiry will examine all available information.”
Trump, asked about the matter on Sunday, said: “I just know he’s a fine person, but you never know what’s going on. I’m sure — I hope everything’s fine. He’s done such an incredible job.” The president was briefed on the intelligence findings roughly a year ago and chose not to act, and said on Sunday he did not regret that decision. The Chinese government dismissed the Times report as “groundless speculation.”
Analyst Dan Ives called the episode “a black eye moment” for Jensen Huang, predicted multiple congressional inquiries and an overhang on the stock, and said Huang was expected to keep his job in the near term but risked removal as chief executive depending on the outcome of the probe. “This will add risk to the stock as he is so important to the Nvidia story and strategy globally,” he said.
The case lands in the middle of the race for technological dominance between China and the United States, which restricts the export of most cutting-edge silicon chips to China. Nvidia is a global leader in the chips used to train and run AI models and one of the world’s most valuable companies, which is why any question around its chief executive draws attention far beyond the company itself.
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