Nvidia said Sunday that it was “opening an independent investigation in light of recent reports that founder and CEO Jensen Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.”
The Republican-led U.S. Congressional Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees have asked Huang to testify next week in a closed-door briefing on Nvidia’s “security protocols against espionage by foreign adversaries” in response to an October New York Times report alleging he “had a close relationship” with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to “Beijing.”
Alice Huang or Huang Le, no relation to the Nvidia CEO, is an executive at a Singapore-based data center company called Megaspeed. She was previously suspected of smuggling Nvidia chips into China, prompting U.S. authorities to monitor and surveil her.
Those officials determined that she was acting as an agent of Chinese intelligence, passing business information to Beijing, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources.
The company’s board said in a statement on the matter that while it has no reason to believe that U.S. national security or Nvidia’s secrets were compromised, its investigation will review all available information.
“The Board prioritizes the national and economic security of the United States, which is paramount to the interests of NVIDIA and its shareholders,” the company said. “The board has confidence in Jensen and his management team and will provide further updates as appropriate.”
Huang fully supports the review and is committed to cooperating with it, he added.
Axios reported Sunday, citing a draft email Huang sent to employees, that Huang admitted to having a romantic relationship with a suspected Chinese spy and took full responsibility for his actions.
“I have been unfaithful to my wife. My actions have harmed her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did,” Huang said in the draft email also seen by Reuters.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Axios report.
The Times reported Sunday that a memo written by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio circulated among top policymakers in the Trump administration last spring, citing reports that the businesswoman who had a relationship with Nvidia’s chief executive was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security. Despite these concerns, Huang and his wife, Lori Huang, were invited to a state dinner at the White House in September for Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, and seated at the head table with Donald Trump and Xi.
Nvidia’s powerful chips are the cornerstone of the AI boom, putting Jensen Huang in one of the most influential leadership positions in the industry. In this role, he developed a close partnership with Trump as the US government attempts to defend its leadership position in the development of AI.
However, national security concerns have led the United States to strictly control exports, preventing the company from selling its top-tier processors to Chinese customers.
U.S. officials have cited threats to the U.S. supply chain and concerns about national security risks to justify the restrictions. Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, also suggested that China could be sanctioned for stealing US data and intellectual property.
The Trump administration has imposed restrictions on exports of advanced AI chips to China over national security concerns. Megaspeed’s Alice Huang was suspected of helping the government circumvent these restrictions.
The survey also follows a rough few days on Wall Street for AI tech companies, particularly Nvidia. A selloff in technology stocks that began earlier this month and accelerated with disappointing earnings led to a total drop of nearly $1 trillion in the tech-heavy Nasdaq stock market in one week and wiped out about $2 trillion in a month.
A 3.1% decline for Nvidia, previously worth about $5 trillion, whose chips have made it the poster child of the AI frenzy, was the heaviest force pulling the S&P 500 lower recently.
Robert Mackey, Nick Robins-Early and Blake Montgomery contributed reports
Gn headline
