Nvidia has opened an independent investigation after its chief executive and co-founder, Jensen Huang, acknowledged an affair with a Chinese-born businesswoman whom US intelligence officials suspected of spying for Beijing — a disclosure that has shaken one of the world’s most valuable companies and thrust national security questions into the center of the US-China artificial intelligence rivalry.
Huang admitted Sunday that he had been “unfaithful” to his wife and apologized for hurting her and their children. Nvidia’s shares slid as the investigation became public. The company said it does not believe US national security had been compromised and added that Huang was committed to continuing to lead the firm.
What is alleged
US intelligence officials believed that Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman who had a close relationship with Jensen Huang, was a spy for Beijing and had been recruited by China’s top intelligence agency. She is of no relation to Jensen Huang, and her current whereabouts are unknown.
Surveillance reportedly revealed communications between Alice Huang and an American citizen who was subsequently identified as Jensen Huang through a process known as “unmasking.” It remains unclear what intelligence Alice Huang — also known as Huang Le — allegedly gathered and passed to Beijing. She has not responded to requests for comment.
Alice Huang’s role at Megaspeed
Alice Huang was a top executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center firm, between March and November 2023. The company had been suspected of helping divert Nvidia chips to China, a concern Nvidia maintains was investigated and debunked. Singapore authorities are investigating Megaspeed over earlier allegations that it circumvented US sanctions on the export of Nvidia’s high-end chips.
Megaspeed said last month that its current leadership took the allegations seriously and had appointed external legal advisers to conduct an internal investigation.
Nvidia’s response
Nvidia said it was not aware of any intelligence concerns before the reports surfaced. “We trust that if we were the target of a genuine threat, the US government would have notified us,” a company spokesperson said.
The company’s board said in a statement Sunday that it has “confidence in Jensen and his leadership team.” Sources say his removal is unlikely because so much money is at stake. There is no public succession plan for the 63-year-old, who has often said he hopes to remain in the role for decades. He has built an informal leadership structure around him that differs from a traditional corporate hierarchy, and his children, Spencer and Madison, and son-in-law Nico Caprez hold senior roles at the company.
China rejects the allegations
China has rejected the spying allegations. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters Monday at a regular daily press briefing: “We have already responded to this. The allegations about Chinese spies are entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China.”
Washington’s reaction
President Donald Trump was briefed last year on intelligence alleging that Alice Huang was spying on China’s behalf. Asked on Sunday whether he wished he had “acted on the intelligence,” Trump replied: “No, I don’t think so. I think he’s an honorable guy.”
Trump said he had not spoken to the Nvidia boss since news of the investigation emerged. “I just know he’s a fine person, but you never know what’s going on,” Trump told reporters, adding that Huang had “done an amazing job for our country.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to comment when asked about Huang. Last spring, Rubio reportedly oversaw the drafting of a memo that warned the Trump administration about Huang’s relationship with the Chinese businesswoman.
Why it matters
Nvidia sits at the heart of the US-China AI race, which is why the billionaire’s affair has stirred national security fears among American lawmakers. Trump has said “whoever wins AI wins,” and the concern is that if China gains the upper hand in AI, it will supercharge the country’s military and surveillance capabilities.
The US advantage rests in large part on American companies like Nvidia working with producers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which makes more than 90% of the world’s most advanced chips. Since 2022, Washington has used export controls to keep the most advanced technology out of China, saying the measures preserve America’s competitive edge and protect national security.
That has largely locked Nvidia out of the world’s most lucrative market. Huang once said Nvidia’s share of the Chinese market had fallen from around 95% to effectively zero. He has engaged in shuttle diplomacy between Washington and Beijing, hoping to find a US-approved way back in and shaping US policy on China along the way.
The revelations may explain why Huang has failed to secure Nvidia’s biggest prize: the Trump administration’s blessing to sell all but its most advanced chips to China.
Who is Jensen Huang?
Born in Taiwan in 1963, Huang was nine years old when his family moved to the West Coast of the United States. He graduated as an electrical engineer from Oregon State University and earned a master’s degree in the same field from Stanford University. He worked at US chip firm AMD before co-founding Nvidia in 1993 with fellow electrical engineers Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem.
Known as “Daddy Huang” in Taiwan and once lauded as the “Taylor Swift of tech,” he has a reputation as a workaholic and perfectionist with extraordinarily high standards for his staff. Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index estimates his fortune at $155 billion (£115 billion).
“Jensen Huang is a tech visionary of the likes of Steve Jobs,” said Stephen Witt, author of “Thinking Machine,” a biography of Huang, adding that he was responsible for creating AI hardware as it is known today.
Huang has a famously close relationship with Trump. At a recent AI summit at the White House, where 42 tech executives were present, the president was flanked by Elon Musk and Huang.
What is Nvidia?
Nvidia was originally known for chips that process graphics, particularly for computer games, before shifting focus to AI, a field it now dominates. Huang rescued the company from bankruptcy more than once and took risks on AI long before the rest of the world did, effectively building the infrastructure from scratch.
“Today when we think of that, we think of these giant data centers — none of that existed. There were no customers for the stuff he was building,” Witt said. “In fact his first customer was OpenAI at the time they had 30 people — he actually gave it to them, he donated it to them.”
Every notable tech company building AI tools and infrastructure, including Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft, now uses Nvidia chips. The company is currently worth $4.5 trillion (£3.4 trillion), making it one of the most valuable companies ever.
Huang’s family
Huang met his future wife, Lori Mills, at Oregon State University while studying electrical engineering in the early 1980s. The pair were lab partners. They married in 1985, about eight years before he co-founded Nvidia, and have two children, Madison and Spencer.
In 2007, the couple founded the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation. The charitable fund’s assets have surged in recent years, driven by the soaring value of Nvidia shares, and it is estimated to be worth more than $9 billion. Its donations include tens of millions of dollars to engineering programs at Oregon State and Stanford.
Witt said Huang has gone to great lengths to present himself as a family man. “That’s very important to him,” he said. “He praises his wife, he talks about her in very glowing ways.”
“The fallout of this would be bad for anyone’s family. But for someone who has gone to such great lengths to cultivate an image of being a family guy and who keeps his children very close, it is very bad.”