Nvidia board investigates Jensen Huang’s links to alleged Chinese spy

Nvidia’s board said on Sunday that a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, will investigate recent reports that founder and chief executive Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The board said it has no reason to believe that national security or company secrets were compromised and that it has confidence in Huang and his leadership team.

The reports concern Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a former executive at the Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed, who US intelligence agencies reportedly believe was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security. Megaspeed is an Nvidia customer. In a letter to staff, Jensen Huang said he had been unfaithful to his wife, apologised and said he would cooperate with the review. Chinese officials dismissed the allegations as unfounded; Nvidia has said its chief executive’s meetings with customers involve no sensitive information.

Three Republican committee chairs wrote to Huang last week. Nvidia is the main supplier of AI chips, and Megaspeed has also been accused of moving restricted hardware into China.