Nvidia opens probe into reports Chinese intelligence targeted CEO Jensen Huang

The board of directors of US chipmaker Nvidia announced on Sunday that it is launching an investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang, 63, was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort.” The matter carries weight because Nvidia's chips power many of the data centers and computing systems used to train and run artificial intelligence models, and are subject to US export restrictions meant to limit China's access to advanced semiconductor technology.

The announcement followed a New York Times report that Huang admitted to the board he had been intimate with a business executive whom US intelligence concluded was gathering information for Beijing. According to the Times, Huang apologized in a message to the 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.”

The board said it has no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, but that the inquiry will examine all available information. Huang fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating. He will stay on as CEO while it is under way.

What the Times reported

Last month the newspaper reported that US intelligence agencies had found Huang had developed a close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen and chip buyer, and concluded she was passing information directly to Beijing. The two are not related. Alice Huang previously worked as a television reporter in China before becoming a top executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, now one of Nvidia's biggest customers in Southeast Asia. Megaspeed has bought more than $4.8 billion worth of Nvidia chips over the past two years.

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US President Donald Trump addressed the reports at his Halloween party, calling the situation “very complex” and saying he hoped everything was fine with Huang, who sits on the president's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. On Oct. 31 Trump told reporters he had always found Huang “very aboveboard” and that the administration would look into the matter “very closely.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, leaving the US on Sunday for a G7 meeting in Paris, declined to comment, citing the nature of the matter and saying it is an internal corporate issue at Nvidia.

Based in Santa Clara, California, Nvidia is the world's most valuable company. It has regularly beaten Wall Street's earnings expectations over the past three years and reported quarterly profits of $59.69 billion in August.