Nvidia launches investigation into Jen-Hsun Huang's extramarital affair with suspected Chinese spy

U.S. tech giant Nvidia will launch an independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair with a suspected Chinese spy.

Nvidia is one of the most valuable companies in the world. The company said the board had no reason to believe Nvidia's trade secrets or U.S. national security had been compromised, adding that Huang was committed to continuing to lead the company.

On the other hand, Huang Renxun admitted that he was "unfaithful" to his wife and apologized for hurting his wife and children.

The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence officials believe Alice Huang, a Chinese businessman with close ties to Huang, is a spy for Beijing.

Huang said he would "take full responsibility" for everything he did and admitted that his actions had failed Nvidia's employees, board of directors and shareholders.

Nvidia is one of the world's largest companies and plays a central role in manufacturing the hardware needed for emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. Jen-Hsun Huang has been at the helm of the company for more than 30 years.

"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 said in the statement.

He continued: "Regarding the national security concerns raised in news reports, Nvidia's board of directors has launched an independent investigation. I support this investigation and will fully cooperate."

"I love our country and I love our company. I am committed to protecting Nvidia and supporting U.S. national security. I am proud and grateful to be an American."

Nvidia's board of directors issued a separate statement saying that in light of recent reports that "the company's founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been targeted by foreign intelligence agencies," the board will launch an investigation.

"The Board of Directors prioritizes the national and economic security of the United States, which is of paramount importance to the interests of Nvidia and its shareholders," the statement continued.

"While the Board currently has no reason to believe that confidential U.S. national security or Nvidia information has been compromised, the Board's investigation will review all available information."

U.S. President Donald Trump said he has not spoken to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang since news of the investigation broke.

"I just know he's a great guy, but you never know what's actually going on," Trump told reporters, adding that Huang "has made incredible contributions to our country."

Huang has repeatedly saved Nvidia from near bankruptcy and decided to bet on artificial intelligence long before the rest of the world was bullish on it.

He decided to develop Nvidia chips (chips) originally designed for gaming into the industry's most suitable products for AI development. Now the move has paid off hugely, with the company worth trillions of dollars.

This incident was a major blow to Huang Renxun. He is known as a workaholic and perfectionist and has extremely high requirements for employees' work performance.

Huang Le, who is not related to Huang, is reportedly associated with Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed.

The company told the New York Times last month that current management takes the allegations seriously and has appointed outside legal counsel to conduct an internal investigation.

Nvidia is a core company in the field of AI infrastructure, supplying chips to many leading AI model developers, including OpenAI and Meta.

The chipmaker has a market capitalization of approximately US$4.5 trillion (32.4 trillion yuan; NT$144 trillion), making it one of the most valuable companies in history.

China has previously denied accusations of espionage against Nvidia's chief executive, describing the claims as "pure slander and slander against China."

The New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources, that U.S. intelligence agencies had been monitoring Huang Le and concluded that she was acting on behalf of the Chinese government.

The surveillance operation reportedly uncovered communications between Huang Le and an American citizen. U.S. authorities later confirmed that the U.S. citizen was Huang through a process called "unmasking."

It remains unclear what information Huang Le allegedly passed to Beijing, how valuable it was, or when she allegedly began gathering intelligence.

Huang Le did not respond to a request for comment from The New York Times.

Last week, several U.S. congressmen sent a letter to Huang Jen-Hsun, requesting him to attend a congressional hearing on the relationship mentioned in the relevant reports.

Three Republican House committee chairmen have asked Jen-Hsun Huang to appear at a hearing later this month amid reports that he has a close relationship with Huang to discuss Nvidia's "security measures to prevent espionage by hostile foreign powers."

"Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC's (People's Republic of China) access to sensitive U.S. technology and information," the letter stated.

"During this Congress, the issue of China's penetration of the United States and its acquisition of cutting-edge technology has been a core issue in the investigative work of our three committees."

Nvidia's AI chips have always been one of the focuses of competition between the United States and China. Washington has previously imposed export controls that limited where its advanced products could be sold.

Among them, because of concerns about giving China's technology industry an advantage over the United States, the U.S. government restricted the export of Nvidia's second most advanced semiconductor product, the H200.

In January this year, the Trump administration said it would conditionally approve Nvidia's sale of H200 chips to Chinese customers.

Nvidia told the BBC it was unaware of US concerns about Megaspeed.

Nvidia said late Sunday (November 8) that it was not aware of U.S. intelligence agencies’ concerns about Megaspeed. Megaspeed is a data center company headquartered in Singapore, where Huang Le is a senior executive.

But Megaspeed has been suspected in the past of shipping Nvidia chips to China to circumvent export controls.

After the New York Times recently reported on the relationship between its chief executive Jensen Huang and Huang Le, Nvidia said it was aware that Megaspeed had been investigated for helping to circumvent U.S. export controls by helping to transfer Nvidia chips to China, but insisted that the allegations had been investigated and proved to be false.

So, was Nvidia aware of U.S. intelligence concerns about Megaspeed?

Tonight, the company said it had no knowledge.

"We believe that if we were the target of a real threat, the US government would notify us," an Nvidia spokesperson told the BBC.

The New York Times reported that U.S. President Trump was informed last year that U.S. intelligence agencies were monitoring Huang Le and suspected her of cooperating with Beijing.

Trump took no action and told reporters on Sunday that he had no regrets.

Singapore business records show Wong Lok is linked to Megaspeed.

A BBC reporter checked Singapore's business registration records and learned that a Chinese citizen named Huang Le served as the managing director of Megaspeed from March to November 2023.

As a reminder, Huang Le is Alice Huang’s Chinese name. She was reportedly a Chinese spy who worked at Megaspeed and had an extramarital affair with Nvidia's Jensen Huang.

Currently, a Singaporean man, Tan Yong Pong (transliteration), is listed as a director of Megaspeed. Business records show that he took over the company from Huang Le as early as 2023.

There is currently no suggestion that Chen Yongbang is involved in recent accusations of Chinese espionage.

However, Megaspeed is under investigation by the Singaporean government over previous allegations that the company circumvented U.S. sanctions on Nvidia's high-end chip exports.

The BBC has contacted Megaspeed for response.

Beijing has consistently dismissed accusations of targeted intelligence-gathering operations as politically motivated and has denied claims it engaged in industrial espionage against Nvidia.

The dispute also touches on one of the most contentious issues in U.S.-China relations: advanced technology.

China has been calling on Washington to lift export restrictions on Nvidia's advanced chips, which are critical to the development of artificial intelligence. At the same time, China is investing heavily in local alternatives through tech giants such as Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance.

The message from Beijing is that U.S. restrictions may slow down China's technological ambitions, but they cannot stop them.

And China also holds its own leverage in next week's talks, including its dominant position in the global supply of rare earth metals. Rare earth metals are critical to products ranging from electric vehicles to advanced defense systems.