Nvidia investigates CEO Jensen Huang over link to Chinese spy

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to having a relationship with a woman whom US intelligence concluded was passing information to China.

Nvidia announced on Sunday that its board of directors had launched an investigation into its CEO and co-founder, who confessed to having a close relationship with a businesswoman identified by US intelligence as a Chinese spy.

Huang’s involvement with the woman, known as Alice Huang, emerged as a matter of concern for the US government after surveillance operations revealed that she was funnelling information directly to Beijing.

Apologising in a message sent to the company, Huang said: “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.”

Nvidia’s board of directors stated that there was “no reason to believe national security or Nvidia confidential information was compromised,” but noted that “the board’s inquiry will review all available information.”

The statement added that Huang “fully supports and is cooperating with the inquiry.”

Independent board members will select outside legal counsel to conduct the investigation. Company spokesperson John Rizzo stated that Huang will not take part in the selection process.

The board announced that the 63-year-old Huang will remain at the helm of the company throughout the investigation.

As a co-founder of the company, Huang created a unique operating structure at Nvidia in which he directs all facets of the business while supervising approximately 60 people who report directly to him.

“Today’s news will not slow Nvidia down,” Rizzo said. “Jensen remains committed to leading Nvidia as CEO without interruption.”

Speaking briefly to reporters on Sunday evening as he prepared to depart Florida, Trump defended Huang.

The president said he would “certainly take him along” on his upcoming trip to China.

“I haven’t heard that he did anything wrong,” Trump said. “He did business with somebody, but you know, everybody does.”

Trump said he had not spoken with Huang regarding the matter, adding: “I know he’s a good person, but you never know what’s going on.”

Trump also added that he did not regret failing to take action roughly a year ago, when he was informed that US intelligence agencies were electronically monitoring Huang:

“I think he’s an honourable guy. He probably has an excuse for it. You have to hear it out. No, you cannot treat people like that. He has done a magnificent job for our country.”

Asked whether Huang should continue in his role as Nvidia’s CEO, Trump replied: “I think so. Yes, of course.”

Public scrutiny surrounding Huang’s relationship began last month after The New York Times first reported that American intelligence agencies had discovered the Nvidia chief had established a close relationship with a Chinese citizen and chip buyer whom US officials concluded was gathering intelligence on behalf of Beijing.

The chip buyer was Huang Le. Her biography noted that she worked as a television reporter in China before becoming a senior executive at a Singapore-based data centre firm that grew into one of Nvidia’s largest customers in Southeast Asia.

That company had purchased chips worth more than $4.8 billion since June 2024.

Nvidia continued to do business with Ms Huang’s company, Megaspeed, even after the NYT reported last year that the Department of Commerce was investigating whether the firm was helping smuggle restricted artificial intelligence chips into China.

Nvidia and its CEO initially maintained that there was nothing problematic or out of the ordinary regarding his relationship with Huang Le.

In an interview with Bloomberg last month, Jensen Huang said his interactions with Huang Le were “related to Megaspeed, and all of it was completely normal and nothing out of the ordinary.”

According to the NYT, as business expanded rapidly, Jensen Huang placed his family at the core of the enterprise. His son, Spencer, is a product management director playing a leading role in the company’s robotics initiatives.

His daughter, Madison, serves as a senior director of product marketing, working both in robotics and across the company’s communications and marketing operations.

His son-in-law, Nico Caprez, works on the company’s business development team.

Huang had noted that his wife, Lori, whom he married in 1985, was the person who made founding the company possible. The pair met while Huang was a teenager studying engineering at Oregon State University.

Lori was one of three women in an engineering laboratory of 250 students. Having graduated high school two years early, Huang managed to join Lori’s laboratory group and sought to impress her with his intellect.

Conducting an investigation on suspicions that Megaspeed might be diverting advanced Nvidia AI chips to China, the US government placed Le under surveillance more than a year ago.

During the surveillance operation, it was revealed that Ms Huang was in contact with a US citizen identified as Mr Huang.

Officials reviewing the intelligence said they became certain the relationship between the two was romantic.

This development undermined misleading statements Nvidia had given to the NYT and other outlets over the past year regarding the nature of the relationship between Mr Huang and Ms Huang.

Last spring, Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the drafting of a top-secret memo detailing intelligence that showed Alice Huang had been recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security to target Jensen Huang.

The memo was circulated earlier this year, shortly before the president’s trip to China.

Once reports emerged that Le Huang was being monitored by the US, Jensen’s room for manoeuvre vanished almost completely.

Congress was likely seeking his testimony under oath, and the monitoring reports raised the probability that US intelligence was aware of the nature of his relationship with Le.

Pressure was mounting on Nvidia’s board as well. In a social media post last month, Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee that oversees overseas chip sales, said Mr Huang and the company’s board of directors had “an obligation to answer to Congress” regarding the relationship with the spy.