NVIDIA's board said on Sunday, Nov. 8, that it is starting an independent investigation after news reports that founder and chief executive Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. A committee of the board's independent directors will oversee it, with help from outside lawyers. Independent directors are board members who don't work for NVIDIA.
The board says it has no reason to believe that national security or NVIDIA's secrets were compromised, but that the inquiry will examine all available information. It says it has confidence in Huang and his leadership team, and that Huang supports the review and has promised to cooperate. An NVIDIA spokesperson told reporters that Huang is committed to leading the company without interruption.
In an email to employees that NVIDIA published the same day, Huang wrote that he had been unfaithful to his wife and apologized to his family and NVIDIA's employees, and told the board, partners and shareholders that they deserve better from him. He wrote that he supports the investigation, will cooperate fully and is "committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America's national security." He asked for privacy for his family.
According to news reports, the board acted after a report that Jensen Huang had a close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman who had been an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore company that buys NVIDIA's AI chips; the two are not related. Those reports say U.S. intelligence assessed that China's spy agency recruited her to gather information on Jensen Huang. They also say U.S. authorities have looked into whether Megaspeed helped China get advanced AI chips that U.S. rules bar from being shipped there. NVIDIA had earlier told reporters that Jensen Huang's meetings with customers were part of his job, since he talks with thousands of customer executives every year, and called concerns about illegal chip diversion "debunked last year."
Congress is asking questions too. On Nov. 4, the chairmen of three House committees, on foreign affairs, China and intelligence, asked Jensen Huang to brief them behind closed doors on Nov. 18 about his contacts with Alice Huang and NVIDIA's defenses against foreign spying. They wrote that the reports raise significant national security concerns about China's access to sensitive U.S. technology, and asked him to accept the date or offer another by Nov. 11.
NVIDIA has not named the outside lawyers or said how long the investigation will take, and the board says only that it will give updates as appropriate. Huang has not said publicly whether he will attend the Nov. 18 briefing.
Update (Nov. 10): President Trump told reporters at the White House on Nov. 9, "I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else," and did not explain what he meant by "something else." He added, "I think that he'll be in good shape." Trump said he had spoken with Jensen Huang that day, and that Huang told him he had no idea the woman was a spy. China's foreign ministry repeated the same day that the "Chinese spy" allegation is "purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China." Also on Nov. 9, NVIDIA shareholders led by Mark Kistenmacher sued NVIDIA and Jensen Huang in federal court in San Jose, California, in a proposed class action, according to a news report. The suit accuses them of misleading shareholders about Jensen Huang's alleged relationship with Alice Huang and of not disclosing the national security concerns it raised. It seeks unspecified damages.
Correction (Nov. 9): an earlier version called Alice Huang an executive at Megaspeed. News reports describe her as a former executive, and the House chairmen's letter calls her a Megaspeed executive.