Nvidia board opens investigation into CEO Jensen Huang

On Sunday, Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang, following reports that a foreign intelligence operation had targeted him. The investigation will be overseen by a committee of independent directors with help from outside counsel, per the board's statement. The board said it has no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, and that Huang fully supports the review.

The inquiry comes after The New York Times reported that Huang had a "close relationship" with Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, and that U.S. officials believe she was feeding information to Beijing. The Verge reported that Huang later admitted in a memo to the company that the relationship was romantic. Axios recounted that on Oct. 31, The Wall Street Journal said officials in the U.S., Singapore and Taiwan had reason to think Alice Huang might be a Chinese spy. It also said that on Nov. 6, The New York Times and the Financial Times reported that she was a Chinese spy and that senior intelligence officials recruited her specifically to target Jensen Huang. CNBC reported that Trump administration officials received a memo last spring that said Alice Huang had been recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security and that the memo also revealed her relationship with the Nvidia chief executive.

Axios wrote that Nvidia has repeatedly and firmly denied that Huang and Alice Huang had anything other than a typical business relationship, and insisted no sensitive information was shared with her. A company spokesman told the Times that meetings with Ms. Huang were consistent with meetings with any Nvidia customer. Nvidia did not reply to a request for comment from Axios on Saturday. Chinese officials have denied using Alice Huang to spy on Jensen Huang.

Congressional scrutiny is mounting. Senator Chris Coons posted on X that "Congress will investigate and get answers" and that "there is nothing this administration does that isn't corrupt". When Democrats take over the chamber in January, Coons is set to lead the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, CNBC noted. Three Republican chairs of House committees wrote to Huang asking him to appear for a closed-door briefing on November 18, one day after Nvidia is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings. The letter said recent reports raise "significant national security concerns" regarding China's access to sensitive U.S. technology.

Megaspeed is a Singapore-based company that U.S. officials suspect of helping China get around restrictions on artificial intelligence chip sales, according to CNBC. The Verge reported that Megaspeed is a customer of Nvidia and subject to a Commerce Department investigation into whether it smuggled AI chips to China. Nvidia's AI chips are viewed as crucial to U.S. technological supremacy, and the Biden and Trump administrations have each limited sales to China.

There are also questions about what the Trump administration knew. The New York Times reported that policymakers received a memo last spring, CNBC said. The Verge pointed out that Jensen Huang has become friendly with Donald Trump, raising worries about what he might have learned about the administration's AI discussions and possibly passed to Alice Huang. Texas Senator John Cornyn, meanwhile, called a Times story "outrageous" for saying the Trump administration allowed a Chinese firm, New Matrix, to build chips in Beijing for Nvidia. Representative Seth Magaziner asked that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appear before Congress with Huang.

The board said it will provide further updates as appropriate. The Republicans set November 11 as the deadline for Huang to agree on a briefing date, according to Axios.