Jensen Huang has admitted to Nvidia’s board that he “had been intimate” with an executive U.S. officials accused of being a spy for the Chinese government, according to a New York Times report. And the AI chip powerhouse said in a statement that it has opened an investigation into the matter. Previously, the Times reported that the U.S. government had alleged a woman named Alice Huang had been spying on Nvidia.
In an apology sent to the company, Huang wrote, “I was unfaithful to my wife,” adding, “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
Nvidia released a statement confirming the investigation Sunday, writing that it will be overseen by “a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel,” and insisting that its board “prioritizes U.S. national and economic security” and “has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.”
According to the board, Huang will continue to lead the company while the investigation is conducted.
The alleged spy, known by the names Alice Huang or Huang Le, was listed as Singapore-based Megaspeed’s managing director until at least 2023. The aim of the Nvidia operation, the Times wrote, was to learn more about Nvidia’s most advanced hardware. Chinese officials also allegedly tasked her with persuading Huang to lobby for shipping some of the company’s most advanced GPUs to China as a sort of stretch goal.
It’s unclear how much influence the alleged spy exerted or how successful she was. However, Jensen Huang did successfully petition Trump in 2025 to allow more GPU exports to China, and later struck a deal to also sell limited quantities of its second-most-powerful chip there.
Yorkville Ives analyst Dan Ives said in a email statement to Gizmodo that there “is clearly risk that Jensen could be removed as CEO depending on the Board investigation and this will add risk to the stock as he is so important to the Nvidia story and strategy globally.” Ives also predicts that this matter will only increase scrutiny regarding chips sales to China, which has remained a contentious issue in Washington.
