Nvidia Opens Investigation Into CEO Jensen Huang Over Relationship With Alleged Chinese Spy

AI giant Nvidia announced on Sunday that it would investigate its CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang after the executive admitted to the company's board that he had had a relationship with a woman who, according to U.S. intelligence, has been working as a spy for Beijing.

"The NVIDIA Board is initiating an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort ... While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board's inquiry will examine all available information," a statement released by Nvidia's board of directors on Sunday read.

The New York Times revealed in October that American intelligence had discovered that a former executive at a Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, Alice Huang (or Huang Le), was a Chinese intelligence asset and had cultivated a "close relationship" with Mr Huang. Sources who had been briefed on the surveillance of Ms Huang disclosed the information to the Times.

Megaspeed is a major customer of Nvidia's, having bought over $4.8 billion in chips since 2024.

The Singapore-based company has also continued to do business with Nvidia since reports about Washington's preoccupation with Megaspeed's potential involvement in helping Chinese companies circumvent U.S. export restrictions first emerged last year.

Beijing has become Washington's top competitor in the global race for AI supremacy, which is why the White House restricts the export of Nvidia's most advanced AI products to the Asian giant.

Ms Huang, who is not related to Mr Huang, was reportedly tasked with getting close to the CEO in order to gather intelligence on the most advanced American AI chips and potentially lobby Nvidia, the global leader in the AI chip market, to make the technology available to China,

The Taiwanese-American Huang has since admitted to having an affair with the woman, and has reportedly apologized for the relationship in a statement to his company.

"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 ... To my colleagues at Nvidia ... my responsibility is to serve you and be worthy of your trust. I have fallen short of that responsibility. I am fully committed to Nvidia and will work to earn back your confidence," Mr Huang said.

Mr Huang is a close ally of President Donald Trump's, who was reportedly briefed on the reports of the Chinese espionage operation last year but chose not to take action.

Nvidia is one of the largest drivers of the U.S. stock market; global demand for the company's AI chips propelled it to a record $5 trillion dollar valuation in 2025 and the company consistently ranks as one of the top two largest companies by market capitalization in the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite.

Lawmakers have already asked Mr Huang to answer questions relating to the affair before congressional committees later this month. An Nvidia spokesperson refused to comment on whether the company's CEO would appear in conversation with The New York Times.

However, he is said to be cooperating with his own company's investigation.

"Jensen fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it. The Board has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team and will provide further updates as appropriate," the company's statement on Sunday concluded.