Nvidia Board Investigates Jensen Huang After Report He Was Goal of Chinese language Spy Effort

Nvidia’s board of administrators has opened an impartial investigation following reviews that CEO Jensen Huang was the goal of a international intelligence effort, the corporate mentioned on Sunday.

A committee of impartial administrators, assisted by outdoors counsel, will oversee the inquiry. “Whereas the Board has no purpose to consider that both nationwide safety or NVIDIA secrets and techniques had been compromised, the Board’s inquiry will look at all obtainable info,” it mentioned, including that it “has confidence in Jensen and his management workforce.”

The investigation follows a Monetary Instances report on Saturday {that a} U.S. authorities memo, written earlier this yr primarily based on intelligence info, mentioned the Nvidia CEO had been romantically concerned with Alice Huang, an government at Singapore-based Nvidia buyer Megaspeed, citing individuals conversant in the memo. U.S. intelligence believes she was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Safety, the FT reported. Nvidia declined to remark to the newspaper on the memo. Huang’s electronic mail to workers, despatched on Sunday, didn’t identify the individual with whom he had an affair.

Lawmakers from each events are in search of solutions. Republican leaders have requested Huang to look privately earlier than the Home China, international affairs and intelligence committees, in accordance with the FT, whereas Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), who will chair the Senate Overseas Relations Committee from January, pledged in a tweet that “Congress will examine and get solutions.”

The FT‘s report constructed on a New York Instances investigation final month, which mentioned U.S. intelligence companies had concluded that Alice Huang, also referred to as Huang Le, a Chinese language citizen, was a Chinese language intelligence asset, and that surveillance of her had revealed a detailed relationship with Jensen Huang. President Donald Trump was briefed on the findings roughly a yr in the past and selected to not act on them, in accordance with the Instances.

U.S. officers suspected Megaspeed of serving to Chinese language firms get round restrictions on superior AI chips, and the Commerce Division’s investigation into the corporate has been handed to the Justice Division, the Instances reported. Megaspeed’s sister firm in Malaysia purchased at the least $4.8 billion price of AI gear containing Nvidia chips between June 2024 and February 2026, in accordance with commerce information cited by the newspaper.

Nvidia advised the Instances that Huang’s interactions with Ms. Huang had been “common or surprising,” and that prospects like Megaspeed obtain “unusual enterprise info.” Megaspeed mentioned it had retained outdoors counsel to conduct an inner investigation, Ms. Huang didn’t reply to the newspaper’s requests for remark, and China’s embassy in Washington dismissed the allegations as “groundless smears and slanders.”

Huang’s electronic mail to workers

In an electronic mail to staff on Sunday, Huang apologized to his household and colleagues. “I used to be untrue to my spouse. My actions harm her and our kids. There isn’t a excuse for what I did,” he wrote, in accordance with a replica printed by CNBC.

“Relating to the nationwide safety issues raised in information reviews, NVIDIA’s Board of Administrators has initiated an impartial investigation. I help the investigation and can cooperate totally,” Huang wrote. “I’m dedicated to defending NVIDIA and supporting America’s nationwide safety.” He requested for privateness for his household.

“At this time’s information won’t sluggish NVIDIA. Jensen is dedicated to persevering with to steer NVIDIA as CEO with out interruption,” the corporate advised CNBC.

Nvidia shares had been down 5% at $177.32 in premarket buying and selling early on Monday, after closing at $186.64 on Friday, in accordance with Yahoo Finance.