Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a woman whom U.S. intelligence officials reportedly believed was collecting information for China, and Nvidia’s board has launched an independent investigation into the matter. The Jensen Huang affair has also drawn the attention of House Republicans, who are pressing the chipmaker’s founder for answers about potential national security risks and want him to appear in person on Nov. 18.
As Fox Business reported, the board’s review and the congressional request both followed reporting by The New York Times on a relationship between Huang and Alice Huang, described as a Chinese citizen and an executive at the company Megaspeed.
Huang Apologizes in a Message to Employees
Huang addressed the matter directly with Nvidia staff. “I owe my family and all of you an apology,” he wrote in a message to employees. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did.”
According to Fox Business, Huang said he took “full responsibility” and acknowledged that he had fallen short of his responsibilities to Nvidia’s employees, board and shareholders. He also pledged to remain committed to the company and to work to regain the confidence of its employees.
Nvidia Board Opens an Independent Review of the Jensen Huang Affair
Nvidia’s board said an independent committee, assisted by outside counsel, will investigate reports that Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. The board said it has no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, but that it will examine all available information.
The board added that Huang supports the review and that directors have confidence in his leadership. Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox Business, and it is unclear whether Huang will accept the congressional invitation.
Three Committee Chairs Set a Nov. 18 Briefing
Three House committee chairs have invited Huang to an in-person joint briefing on Nov. 18, one day after Nvidia is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings. The letter was dated Wednesday and released Thursday.
It was signed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla.; Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich.; and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark. The lawmakers wrote that recent reports raise national security concerns about China’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information, and they are seeking details about Jensen Huang’s interactions with Alice Huang as well as Nvidia’s security protocols against foreign espionage.
“China’s access to that sensitive U.S. tech is core to the investigative work of our three committees this Congress,” the lawmakers wrote, adding that Congress must determine whether U.S. national security was put at risk.
What the Times Reported About Alice Huang
The New York Times reported that Alice Huang had been gathering information for Beijing and had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang. The Times also reported that President Donald Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings about a year ago but chose not to act.
U.S. officials initially did not believe Jensen Huang knew that Alice Huang was allegedly gathering intelligence for China, according to the Times, and it remains unclear whether that assessment has changed. The Times reported that Huang has not received a defensive briefing from the government.
U.S. officials suspect that some chips acquired by Megaspeed may have been smuggled into China. Scrutiny of how Nvidia hardware reaches Chinese customers has been building on several fronts; NarwhalTV has previously reported on questions surrounding H200 export approvals tied to an apparently empty office.
Chip Lobbying and the Trip to Meet Xi Jinping
The scrutiny of the Jensen Huang affair arrives as the Nvidia chief has lobbied the Trump administration to loosen restrictions on the company’s chip sales to China. Earlier this year, Huang joined Trump’s business delegation to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. He was reportedly added to the trip at the last minute and secured a seat on Air Force One, underscoring Nvidia’s role in U.S.-China trade and technology talks.
That delegation brought together executives from major U.S. companies with deep ties to China, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick. Financial leaders Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Jane Fraser of Citigroup and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs also joined the trip.
Many of those executives are among the world’s wealthiest business leaders. Musk is the richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, while Schwarzman and Huang have fortunes in the tens of billions. Together, their companies represent trillions of dollars in corporate power and rely on Chinese consumers, manufacturing and supply chains, even as Washington and Beijing clash over trade, technology and national security.
Two Reviews Running at Once
For now, two separate inquiries are moving in parallel. Nvidia’s independent board committee, working with outside counsel, is examining reports that its chief executive was the target of a foreign intelligence operation, while House Republicans on the Foreign Affairs, Select Committee on China and Intelligence panels have asked Huang to answer their questions directly on Nov. 18, the day after the company’s third-quarter earnings report. Security questions involving sensitive U.S. networks and technology have surfaced repeatedly in Washington this year, including the discovery of residential proxies on the White House network.
