Nvidia’s board of directors has launched an independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang after he acknowledged in a message to employees that he had an extramarital affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials believe is working on behalf of Chinese intelligence.
The board announced the probe on Sunday, saying an independent committee assisted by outside counsel would review the matter. The board said it currently has no reason to believe that national security information or company secrets were compromised, and it expressed continued support for Huang remaining in his role.
According to Axios, which obtained a draft email sent to Nvidia staff, Huang wrote: “I owe my family and all of you an apology. I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did.”
The woman has been identified as Alice Huang, a tech executive who U.S. authorities allege was recruited to gather information from Jensen Huang, potentially to press him toward supporting the sale of Nvidia’s advanced chips in China despite existing U.S. export restrictions.
A separate report by the New York Times, cited earlier by Breitbart News, said authorities were already investigating whether Alice Huang was helping China obtain restricted Nvidia AI chips before surveillance revealed her relationship with Jensen Huang. The discovery drew particular concern given Huang’s position atop the company that produces the world’s most advanced AI chips.
Nvidia has pushed back on characterizations of the relationship as improper. The company said Megaspeed, the firm associated with Alice Huang, is simply an ordinary regional customer, and that Jensen Huang’s meetings with her were typical of a CEO’s business interactions.
“Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected. Meetings with customers are part of a C.E.O.’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year,” Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo told the Times.
Rizzo also said Nvidia is “confident that if the U.S. government believes that any person is a threat to American industry, it would let us know,” adding that customers like Megaspeed “receive ordinary business information — not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets — and zero information relevant to national security.”
The disclosure comes at an awkward moment for Huang, who has publicly advocated for loosening U.S. restrictions on selling advanced AI chips to China — a position he maintained even as his relationship with Alice Huang was reportedly unfolding.
In his email to employees, Huang sought to reassure staff about his future with the company. “Leading NVIDIA is the privilege of my life,” he wrote. “I am fully committed to NVIDIA and will work to earn back your confidence.”
Rizzo echoed that message in a separate statement. “Today’s news will not slow NVIDIA,” he said. “Jensen is committed to continuing to lead NVIDIA as CEO without interruption.”
The scandal follows days of reporting by Axios, which had been tracking the story since at least November 7. Sunday’s board announcement and Huang’s email to staff appeared aimed at getting ahead of the fallout among employees and the public.
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