Nvidia board opens probe as CEO Jensen Huang admits affair

Nvidia's board said on Sunday, November 8, that it is opening an independent investigation into reports that founder and CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The same day, Huang told employees he had been unfaithful to his wife. A committee of independent directors, working with outside counsel, will run the review, the company said in a statement. The board added that it has "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised," but that the inquiry "will examine all available information."globenewswire.com

Huang will keep running the company while the investigation is underway, The New York Times reported. The board said Huang "fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it," and that it has confidence in him and his leadership team, according to the statement.nytimes.com+1

Huang's apology

"I owe my family and all of you an apology," Huang wrote in a draft email to employees obtained by Axios. "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did." He said he takes "full responsibility" and is "fully committed to NVIDIA." Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo said, "Today's news will not slow NVIDIA," and that Huang will keep leading the company "without interruption," Axios reported.axios.com

The admission concerns Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, who is not related to the CEO. She is a former Chinese television reporter who became a senior executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore data center company. According to the Times, Megaspeed has bought about $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips over the past two years. Nvidia had previously described her contact with Huang as a normal business relationship, Axios noted.axios.com+1

A string of intelligence reports

The Times first reported on October 29 that U.S. agencies had been monitoring Alice Huang electronically for at least a year. On November 6, the Times reported that a memo circulated among Trump administration officials this spring said she had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security. Her reported task was to gather information on U.S. AI chips and possibly push Nvidia to seek sales of its most advanced chips to China. Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the drafting of that memo, the Times later reported. A spokesperson for China's embassy called the reporting "unsubstantiated" and "nothing but smears against China," The Business Times reported.nytimes.com+2

Pressure from Congress

Congress is also stepping up its scrutiny. The Republican chairs of three House committees have asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing on November 18, Fox Business reported. That is one day after Nvidia is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings. The lawmakers want him to set a meeting date by November 11. Democratic Sen. Chris Coons has also promised to investigate, according to Axios.foxbusiness.com+1