Nvidia Board Probes Spy Claims as Jensen Huang Admits an Affair in a Staff Memo
Nvidia's board says it has opened an independent investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, the same day Huang admitted an affair in a staff memo. The board says it has no reason to believe secrets were compromised.
The company selling the chips that power the AI boom is now investigating its own founder. On Sunday, Nvidia's board said it is launching an independent investigation "in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort." A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel, will run it. The board did not name the law firm.
The statement is short and carefully hedged. The board says it "has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised," but adds that its inquiry "will examine all available information." It says Huang "fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it," and that it has "confidence in Jensen and his leadership team." Translation: no known problem, but it wants to be seen checking.
On the same day, Huang sent a memo to staff that did something no corporate statement could. He admitted an affair.
"I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry." Jensen Huang, in a memo to Nvidia staff
The memo, published in full by The Verge, never names the other person. TechCrunch, The Verge and CNBC identify her as Alice Huang (no relation), a Megaspeed executive or former executive. Megaspeed is a Singapore-based cloud and chip company and an Nvidia customer. According to those reports, a memo that circulated among US policymakers earlier this year claimed China's Ministry of State Security recruited her to gather information on Nvidia's CEO. CNBC, citing The New York Times and the Financial Times, reports that US intelligence agencies are concerned she was passing information to Beijing. Those are allegations from officials and news reports, not findings by any court, and Reuters says it could not independently verify them.
Alice Huang did not respond when The New York Times first reported on the relationship last month, and Reuters said on Monday it could not locate her to seek comment. Megaspeed did not immediately respond to Reuters either. That earlier Times reporting was the first chapter here, and we covered it when the NYT reported a suspected Chinese asset had targeted Huang.
The chips make it more than a scandal
If Huang ran a sneaker company, this would be tabloid fodder. He runs the dominant supplier of AI processors, at a time when Washington treats those processors as a national security asset. The US still bars sales of Nvidia's most powerful chips to Chinese firms, and The Verge reports that Megaspeed is under a Commerce Department investigation over whether it smuggled AI chips to China. CNBC notes that Nvidia representatives previously said Megaspeed had already been investigated for evading export controls. Huang has also grown close to President Trump, and The Verge points to the obvious worry: what he may have heard about the administration's AI deliberations, and whether any of it travelled further.
Nobody has shown that anything did. The awkward part for Nvidia is its own earlier line. After the first reports, the company said the pair's interactions were "not unusual" and that it does not share classified information with customers. Sunday's memo makes that line harder to take at face value.
"Today's news will not slow NVIDIA. Jensen is committed to continuing to lead NVIDIA as CEO without interruption." Nvidia, in a statement to CNBC
Congress is less patient than the board. CNBC reports that three House Republican committee chairs have asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing on November 18, one day after Nvidia reports third-quarter earnings. Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, posted that "Congress will investigate and get answers." Asked by the Times whether Huang would appear before lawmakers, Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo declined to comment.
So the board has picked its own investigators, set no public deadline, and declared confidence in the man it is investigating before the work has started. That may be fair, or it may be the softest review Huang faces this month. The board says it "will provide further updates as appropriate." Shareholders and lawmakers will be watching for what counts as appropriate.
