Nvidia spy scandal: What Jensen Huang told top officials about relationship with Alice

Nvidia founder and former CEO Jensen Huang misled some of the chipmaker's senior executives about his relationship with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang. He portrayed their interactions as routine business dealings, despite having an affair with her, according to two people familiar with the matter and internal correspondence reviewed by Reuters. Among the executives Huang communicated with were general counsel Tim Teter and chief marketing officer Alison Wagonfeld. In two separate messages sent in October, Huang told them that his interactions with Alice Huang were part of standard business dealings with customers. He also described his engagement with her company, Megaspeed International, as routine in other communications, people told Reuters. Reuters reviewed several exchanges from October on the condition that the messages would not be quoted verbatim. The news agency is the first to report on the correspondence. The two people said Huang had addressed questions about his relationship with Alice Huang on two occasions, during the autumn of 2025 and again in October 2026, after press queries brought the matter to the attention of some Nvidia leaders. On both occasions, he described their interactions as appropriate. Reuters reviewed only the October messages and not the exchanges from 2025. Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Megaspeed International, an Nvidia customer, was under investigation by the US over suspicions that she may have been spying for China. Jensen Huang and Alice Huang share the same surname but are not related.

Earlier questions about meetings with Alice Huang

Huang's interactions with Alice Huang had come under scrutiny following a New York Times article published in October last year, which highlighted their public meetings. According to the two people, Huang subsequently discussed the possibility of taking legal action against the newspaper. The article had also prompted him to communicate with some Nvidia leaders in 2025 about his interactions with Alice Huang. However, he did not describe the relationship as an affair, the people said. Neither Huang nor Nvidia eventually sued the newspaper. A spokesperson for the New York Times said it had received no legal demand. It remains unclear when the relationship became intimate. Photographs posted online and verified by Reuters show the two together in the US, China and elsewhere, dating back to December 2023.

Board orders independent probe

On November 10, Nvidia's independent board members announced that they had appointed Wall Street law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct an independent investigation. The move followed reports by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal about Huang's relationships with Alice Huang and US authorities' suspicions that she was spying for China. Beijing has denied that Alice Huang is a spy. Reuters has not independently verified whether she was working on behalf of the Chinese government. In an interview with Bloomberg published on October 29, Jensen Huang said the US government had not informed him about its suspicions concerning Alice Huang.

Huang exits Nvidia

Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO on Thursday. His departure marks a dramatic fall from the top of the chip industry, where he was a pioneer of technology central to the recent artificial intelligence boom. In a statement earlier this week, he apologised for being unfaithful to his wife and disappointing the company. However, he did not specifically name Alice Huang. The revelations also follow reports of other relationships. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Huang had an extramarital relationship with an Nvidia employee. Reuters reported on Thursday that he had another intimate relationship with a different Nvidia employee. Nvidia's stock has fallen more than 30% from its October 6 closing high, wiping out more than $1.8 trillion from its market capitalisation, taking the figure below $4 trillion mark for the first time.