Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang, 63, has admitted that he was unfaithful to his wife of 40 years, an affair that has pulled the AI chipmaker into a national security controversy. U.S. officials believe Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive with whom Jensen Huang had a close relationship, is a Chinese spy who has been feeding information to Beijing. Alice Huang is a Chinese citizen and is of no relation to Jensen Huang.
Nvidia’s board has initiated an independent investigation, and the company’s shares fell more than 5% the day after Huang’s public admission. Huang did not name Alice Huang in his statement. Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI infrastructure company, purchased $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips over the last two years, public accounts show. Both the United States and Singapore have investigated the firm over suspicions that it illegally shared chips with China.
Nvidia is one of the world’s largest makers of AI chips, which are essential for accelerating AI development. Its products sit at the center of a fierce U.S.-China technological arms race to build the most advanced AI infrastructure, a contest that could shape each country’s economic future, military prowess, and capacity for innovation. As an American company, Nvidia faces government restrictions on the sale of its most powerful chips to Chinese entities.
November 9, 2026: Huang withdraws from speaking engagements
Huang pulled out of upcoming appearances at the ElevenLabs Summit and the Anthropic CEO Forum.
November 9-10, 2026: Business relationships between Nvidia and the alleged spy come into focus
Alice Huang and her family built a network of companies in China and Singapore to acquire Nvidia chips. That network included Shanghai Century Litong, a Chinese company founded in 2023 that became an Nvidia preferred cloud partner, giving it priority access to chips. Public accounts of the business relationships say the company facilitated purchases of $7.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips, including banned chips.
Nvidia’s top lawyer, Tim Teter, intervened in a 2025 U.S. government probe into suspected AI-chip smuggling by Megaspeed International. He contacted Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler with questions about whether the Trump administration played a role in detaining Alice Huang. In early 2025, Alice Huang and a business partner also sought China-based investors for an Asian data center, telling prospective backers they would have no trouble securing GPUs.
November 8, 2026: Trump calls Huang a “fine person”
President Donald Trump weighed in on the controversy on Sunday night and offered support for the Nvidia chief. “I have not spoken to him about it. I just know he’s a fine person, but you never know what’s going on,” Trump said. Asked whether Huang should remain chief of Nvidia, Trump replied, “I think so. Oh yeah, sure.”
November 8, 2026: Huang admits affair and board begins investigation
In a letter to Nvidia employees that was also published as a press release, Jensen Huang wrote that he cheated on his wife. “I owe my family and all of you an apology,” he told the company. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
He did not mention Alice Huang by name, but linked his infidelity to “the national security concerns raised in news reports.” He added that Nvidia’s board had initiated an independent investigation. “I support the investigation and will cooperate fully. I love our country and our company. I am committed to protecting Nvidia and supporting America’s national security. I am proud and grateful to be an American,” he wrote. Nvidia shares slid over 5% the following day.
November 5, 2026: Republican committee chairs request closed-door briefing
Three Republican committee chairmen — John Moolenaar of the House Select Committee on China, Brian Mast of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rick Crawford of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — sent Huang a request for a closed-door joint briefing with their committees. “Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the People’s Republic of China’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information,” the chairmen wrote. “The issue of PRC infiltration and access to cutting-edge U.S. technology is core to the investigative work of our three committees this Congress. It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk.”
October 29, 2026: Close relationship becomes public
U.S. officials had been investigating Alice Huang and Megaspeed for more than a year when the close relationship became public in late October 2026. Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo denied that the relationship was out of the ordinary. “Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected. Meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year,” Rizzo said. He added that “if the U.S. government believes that any person is a threat to American industry, it would let us know.”
Spring 2026: Secret memo warns of espionage
U.S. officials circulated a secret memo among policymakers warning that Megaspeed’s Alice Huang, who had a relationship with Jensen Huang, was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security. The memo was not public knowledge until it was later disclosed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio supervised its drafting.
Late 2025: Trump briefed on surveillance but does not act
In late 2025, President Donald Trump was briefed on intelligence findings that Alice Huang, a possible Chinese spy, had formed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, and Trump did not act on the information. The Nvidia CEO, an ally of Trump, has repeatedly advocated for the U.S. government to let Nvidia expand its business in China.
October 2025: U.S. and Singapore investigate Megaspeed
Megaspeed was confirmed to be under investigation by both the U.S. and Singaporean governments in October 2025. As an Nvidia customer, the company was suspected of helping Chinese companies get around American embargoes on chip exports. Megaspeed, a neocloud that used Nvidia chips, had been renting computing power to Chinese internet giant Alibaba and other Chinese companies. A Commerce Department official who visited Megaspeed’s data center in Malaysia in 2024 found a hoard of Nvidia equipment still packed in boxes. The concern was that the equipment was being shipped directly somewhere else, such as China, rather than installed and sold as a cloud service.
Jensen Huang had been seen socializing with Alice Huang as early as 2024 in Taiwan, where the Nvidia CEO was born. The investigations into Megaspeed highlighted concerns about how well Nvidia can track its chip exports. At the time, an Nvidia spokesperson said the company did not have “any reason to believe products had been diverted.” The spokesperson added: “NVIDIA visited multiple Megaspeed sites yet again earlier this week and confirmed what we previously observed — Megaspeed is running a small commercial cloud, like many other companies throughout the world, as allowed by U.S. export control rules.”