Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has told company employees he had an extramarital affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials believe is a Chinese spy, prompting the company’s board to launch an independent investigation on Sunday.
According to Axios, which obtained a draft email Huang sent to staff, the Nvidia chief 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 suspect was recruited to extract information from Jensen Huang and potentially pressure him to support making Nvidia’s advanced chips available to China, in spite of existing export restrictions.
A New York Times report said authorities were already investigating whether Alice Huang was helping China obtain restricted Nvidia AI chips before surveillance revealed her close relationship with Jensen Huang. The discovery alarmed officials given Huang’s position atop the company that makes the world’s most powerful AI chips.
Nvidia’s Response
Nvidia has characterized the relationship differently, saying the woman’s employer, Megaspeed, is simply an ordinary regional customer and that meetings between the two were routine 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 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 carries particular weight because Huang has publicly pushed to ease restrictions on selling advanced AI chips to China, a stance he maintained even as the relationship was developing.
Board Backs Huang
Nvidia’s board said Sunday that an independent committee, working with outside counsel, will investigate the matter. The board stated it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised and that it continues to support Huang as CEO.
In his email to staff, Huang sought to reassure employees 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, Nvidia’s head of public policy communications, 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 disclosures follow growing scrutiny of Huang’s reported ties to the suspected spy, a story Axios had been tracking since at least November 7. The board’s Sunday announcement and Huang’s email to staff came as the company moved to address the fallout with both employees and the public.
