Nvidia Launches Independent Probe of CEO Jensen Huang After He Admits Affair Amid Chinese Spy Reports

SYDNEY - Nvidia's board of directors opened an independent investigation Sunday into CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang after reports that he was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, hours after Huang acknowledged in a memo to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife.

The inquiry will be run by a committee of independent directors with the help of outside legal counsel. In a statement, the board said it has no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia's trade secrets were compromised, but that the review will examine all available information. The board also said U.S. national and economic security take priority over the interests of the company and its shareholders.

A company spokesperson said Huang will stay on as CEO. "Today's news will not slow NVIDIA," the spokesperson told Fox Business.

The investigation follows a series of reports by The New York Times that U.S. intelligence officials concluded a Singapore-based executive, Alice Huang, was a Chinese intelligence asset who had cultivated a close relationship with the Nvidia chief. She is also known as Huang Le and is not related to Jensen Huang. The Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Trump administration officials about the connection.

NBC News reported late Sunday, citing a person familiar with the matter, that U.S. intelligence agencies had determined Alice Huang was a Chinese spy and that she had a relationship with Jensen Huang. NBC said it had not independently confirmed the Times reports. Axios and TechCrunch reported that Huang's memo did not name the woman. Neither the White House nor U.S. intelligence agencies have publicly confirmed the allegations, and the Chinese embassy has called them groundless smears, according to published reports.

In the memo, Huang apologized to his colleagues, board and shareholders. "I was unfaithful to my wife," he wrote, adding that his actions hurt her and their children. He said he accepted responsibility and that he supports the board's review. "You deserve better from me," he told employees, according to TechCrunch.

What officials are said to know

According to the Times, officials who briefed President Donald Trump on the matter roughly a year ago did not believe Jensen Huang knew of Alice Huang's alleged information gathering, though some senior officials later questioned whether he could have been unaware. Public reporting does not show what information, if any, was passed to Beijing, and it does not establish that Huang knowingly shared sensitive material.

Reports citing a U.S. government memo said officials believed Alice Huang had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to gather information about Huang. Those accounts rely on anonymous sources and unconfirmed intelligence assessments.

The Megaspeed connection

Alice Huang was a senior executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company that is an Nvidia customer. U.S. officials have scrutinized Megaspeed since 2024 over whether advanced Nvidia processors reached Chinese buyers in violation of export controls. Reports say a Malaysian company linked to Megaspeed purchased at least $4.8 billion in equipment containing Nvidia technology between June 2024 and February 2026. The Commerce Department's investigation was later transferred to the Justice Department, according to administration officials cited in the reports.

Nvidia has said the allegations that chips were diverted to China were investigated and rejected. On Oct. 29, Huang defended the company's business with Megaspeed, calling it normal and not unusual, according to Reuters reporting on a Bloomberg account. Megaspeed has said it hired outside counsel to conduct an internal review and will cooperate with U.S. authorities. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said on Oct. 31 that Megaspeed remains under investigation, but it denied that Singaporean authorities had investigated the espionage allegations or Huang's relationship with the executive.

Political fallout

Trump said Sunday he had not spoken to Huang since the announcement. Asked about the matter, he said Huang "probably has an excuse for it," CNN reported. Huang has been a frequent White House visitor and an informal adviser on artificial intelligence, and he attended a state dinner for Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month. Trump has left open whether that advisory role will continue, according to investingLive.

Congress is also pressing for answers. Three House Republican chairmen, Brian Mast of the Foreign Affairs Committee, John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China and Rick Crawford of the Intelligence Committee, requested a closed-door briefing for Nov. 18 on Huang's interactions with the Megaspeed executive and Nvidia's safeguards against foreign espionage. Their letter was dated Nov. 4. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, had urged Huang and the board on Oct. 29 to provide Congress with answers.

The scrutiny arrives as Huang has lobbied the administration to ease restrictions on Nvidia chip sales to China, a position that could draw sharper questions on Capitol Hill.

Market reaction

Monday's U.S. trading session is the first chance for investors to react to Huang's admission and the board inquiry. Nvidia shares fell about 3% after the first Times report in late October, according to investingLive. Dan Ives, an analyst at Yorkville & Ives, called the news "a black eye moment for Jensen" and said it would likely prompt multiple congressional inquiries and renewed scrutiny of chip sales to China, CNN reported.

Analysts have pointed to two near-term risks: governance questions at a founder-led company while an investigation is open, and the possibility that Washington scrutiny clouds Huang's influence over chip policy.

What comes next

The board said it would provide further updates as appropriate and did not give a timeline for the inquiry. Open questions include what the independent review finds, whether the Nov. 18 briefing leads to broader congressional action, and whether the Justice Department's export investigation reaches Nvidia itself.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has led it to become one of the world's most valuable companies on the strength of demand for its artificial intelligence chips.