《TAIPEI TIMES》Nvidia shares slide amid spy claims

Shares of Nvidia Corp fell yesterday as an internal investigation into whether CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by foreign intelligence agencies put his future at the artificial intelligence (AI) chip maker under scrutiny.

The internal investigation stemmed from a media report that Huang had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman accused of passing information to Beijing. Huang told Nvidia employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife but did not disclose details of the relationship.

Late last month, the New York Times reported that Huang had ties to Huang Le, also known as Alice Huang, an unrelated former executive at the Singaporean company Megaspeed who was investigated by U.S. authorities and deemed a Chinese intelligence asset.

"The so-called Chinese spy narrative is purely baseless accusations, slander and smear," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters in Beijing.

Megaspeed did not immediately respond to a request for comment yesterday, which is a public holiday in Singapore.

Huang Le did not respond when the New York Times first reported her relationship with Jensen Huang last month, and Reuters was unable to locate her yesterday seeking comment.

The investigation, announced Sunday, thrusts Huang's future into the spotlight given Nvidia's status as the world's most valuable chipmaker and the CEO's role as the most prolific salesman of the AI ​​boom.

The leather-jacketed CEO enjoys superstar status around the world, especially in Taiwan, where he was born and often interacts freely with fans, signing autographs and taking photos for his loyal following.

He is Nvidia's fifth-largest shareholder, holding about 3.6%, according to LSEG data, and maintains tight control over the company through an unusually flat structure in which dozens of executives report directly to him.

However, unlike Meta Platforms or SpaceX, Nvidia does not have dual class shares, which would give its co-founders majority voting control.

Yorkville Ives technical analyst Dan Ives said news of the investigation was "a dark eye moment" for Jensen Huang.

Ives predicted that this would trigger at least a number of congressional investigations and "put pressure on stock prices for a number of reasons."

"It will also add significant scrutiny to chip sales to China, which remains a key battleground issue in Washington," he said in a statement.

Fallout from the investigation extended to South Korea, where Jensen Huang's daughter and Nvidia executive Madison Huang canceled a trip to Seoul for an Nvidia conference that was scheduled to begin yesterday, according to the company she was scheduled to meet with.

Nvidia shares fell nearly 5% in U.S. premarket trading, extending a sell-off last week that pushed shares to multi-month lows. At current levels, the chipmaker will lose about $250 billion in value from its last closing price.

"The market is probably telling you that this is not going to be good for the share price, especially at a time when there is a lot of speculation about data center construction," said Chris Weston, head of research at Melbourne broker Pepperstone.

However, Weston said he doesn't think Jensen Huang, whom he describes as the "godfather of AI," will be replaced.

"If we really thought he was going to step down ... the stock price would go down - it would be an absolute bloodbath, frankly," he said.

Nvidia said its board of directors has confidence in Jensen Huang. Some analysts say there is no natural successor within the company if he decides to step down.

George Chen, digital business partner and chairman of The Asia Group, said, "Until the facts are fully established, it is premature to conclude that Jensen poses a threat to U.S. national security."

"Once you become famous, you become a target," he said. "The key question is whether he was aware of any espionage activity and whether any confidential or strategically sensitive information was leaked."

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he had not spoken to Jensen Huang about the allegations but called him a good man.

Asked whether he thought he should have taken action after being briefed on the intelligence, Trump said: "No, I don't think so. I think he's an honorable man. I think he probably had an excuse. You've got to hear his side of the story."

The New York Times reported that Trump was briefed about the intelligence findings about a year ago and chose not to take any action on the information.

Additional reporting provided by The Associated Press