[ITmedia News] NVIDIA investigates independent investigation into Chinese spying allegations against CEO Huang, admits extramarital affair and apologizes

On November 8th (local time), NVIDIA announced that its board of directors will launch an independent investigation into the company's founder and CEO Jensen Huang, following reports that he was the target of an operation by a foreign intelligence agency.

According to reports from the New York Times and other sources, U.S. intelligence officials were aware that Chinese businessman Alice Huang (her Chinese name is Huang Le), who had a close relationship with Huang (hereinafter referred to as "Alice Huang" because she shares the same last name as CEO Jensen Huang), was suspected of cooperating with China's intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security.

Alice Huang is a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI cloud services company that purchases NVIDIA's AI semiconductors. U.S. authorities are also investigating the company for its involvement in acquiring advanced AI semiconductors whose exports to China are restricted. The chairs of the U.S. House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee, Special Committee on China, and Special Committee on Intelligence announced on November 5th that they had asked CEO Huang to provide a private explanation on the 18th about his contact with Alice Huang and Nvidia's anti-espionage measures.

NVIDIA's Board of Directors has established a committee of independent directors to conduct the investigation with the assistance of independent outside legal counsel. The statement said there is "no reason to believe that U.S. national security or NVIDIA's confidential information has been compromised at this time," but that the company will review all available information.

The board of directors has expressed confidence in CEO Huang and the management team, and plans to release additional information as the investigation progresses. CEO Huang also fully supports the investigation and pledges to cooperate.

On the same day, CEO Huang released a message to employees, acknowledging his relationship with a woman other than his wife and apologizing. "My actions hurt my wife and children. There is no excuse," he said, fully accepting responsibility. He also pledged to fully cooperate with an independent investigation into national security concerns.

Suspicions that Alice Huang cooperated with Chinese intelligence agencies and whether confidential information from NVIDIA was leaked have not been confirmed at this time.