Nvidia’s board of directors announced an independent investigation following revelations that its CEO, Jensen Huang, was the target of a Chinese spy operation with Alice Huang. In the process, Jensen Huang acknowledged in a message to employees having been unfaithful to his wife with a woman he does not name, but everything suggests that it is Alice Huang.
The investigation will be overseen by a committee of independent directors, assisted by an external legal firm. Nvidia clarifies that its board of directors has no reason at this time to believe that US national security or company secrets have been compromised. Jensen Huang supports this approach and is committed to full cooperation. He will remain at the head of the group during the investigations and will continue to perform his duties without interruption.
Jensen Huang: extramarital affair and target of espionage
In his message, the head of Nvidia admits to having cheated on his wife and apologizes to his family, his colleagues, the board of directors and shareholders. He claims to take full responsibility for his actions and regrets having failed in the trust placed in him. However, it does not give any indication about the identity of the person with whom he had this relationship.
The New York Times and Financial Times revelations establish a link to Alice Huang, a Chinese and former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company. Jensen Huang and Alice Huang are not related, despite having the same name. According to information from US intelligence services, Alice Huang was recruited by the Chinese Ministry of State Security to collect information on Jensen Huang and Nvidia.
Megaspeed is an important Nvidia customer, especially in the field of artificial intelligence: in two years, the company has purchased more than $4.8 billion in graphics chips (GPU) from the American manufacturer. US authorities were especially interested in Nvidia’s suspected re-export of GPUs to China, despite US restrictions. The intelligence services feared that the proximity between Alice Huang and the head of Nvidia would allow her to obtain information about the group’s projects and its contacts with the United States regarding exports of advanced chips.
Nvidia and China dispute the first accusations
Before the investigation was announced, Nvidia had already stated that Jensen Huang’s exchanges with Alice Huang were not unusual and that its regional clients did not receive any sensitive information related to trade secrets or national security. China has also rejected accusations of espionage, calling them baseless speculation and slander.
The independent investigation should now allow Nvidia to determine whether the information poses a real risk to the company or the security of the United States. No trade secret compromise has been publicly confirmed to date.
