Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits affair with suspected Chinese spy

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, admitted in a Sunday email to employees that he had an affair with a woman US intelligence officials suspect was a Chinese spy. The admission came after Huang had previously called reports of the relationship "groundless speculation".

Nvidia's board said an independent committee, supported by outside counsel, will oversee the investigation. The board said it "has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised" and will examine all available information.

In a draft email obtained by Axios, Huang wrote: "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." He added that he takes full responsibility and is "fully committed to NVIDIA and will work to earn back your confidence".

The woman, Alice Huang, who is not related to the CEO, held an executive position at Megaspeed, an IT and cloud company based in Singapore that has spent over $2 billion on Nvidia hardware. Megaspeed is under investigation for allegedly smuggling Nvidia GPUs into China, but the company has denied involvement. US intelligence agencies had been surveilling Megaspeed and Alice Huang when they discovered the relationship and believe she sought to extract information and gain access to the chips.

The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had cautioned senior Trump administration officials about Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, who was allegedly tasked with gathering information and potentially advocating for the sale of Nvidia's advanced chips in China. Huang had initially denied any personal relationship, saying his interactions with Megaspeed were "completely normal and not unusual".

In a statement, Nvidia's head of public policy communications, John Rizzo, said, "Today's news will not slow NVIDIA. Jensen is committed to continuing to lead NVIDIA as CEO without interruption". Nvidia's board also expressed confidence in Huang's leadership, according to Axios.

Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives wrote in a note to investors that the investigation is a "black eye" for Huang and could lead to congressional probes. He said there is "clearly risk that Jensen could be removed as CEO depending on the Board investigation" and that the news will add risk to the stock because Huang is central to Nvidia's strategy.

On Thursday, Congressional Republicans sent a letter to Huang seeking a closed-door briefing about the incident. Michigan Rep. John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said, "Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC's access to sensitive U.S. technology and information," and added, "It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which US national security has been placed at risk."

Huang has often been seen with President Donald Trump at AI-related events and has pushed for relaxing trade restrictions with China to sell more Nvidia products there. The US government prohibits sales of Nvidia's most advanced AI chips to China, though the company contends that it is preferable for the world to adopt processors made by a US firm.