Nvidia is investigating Jensen Huang’s relationship with a Chinese spy

Nvidia’s board of directors has opened an independent investigation into founder and CEO Jensen Huang and his relationship with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, whom reports have linked to China’s Ministry of State Security. The board said it is acting in response to recent reporting that Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.

In a statement, the board said a committee of independent directors, working with outside independent counsel, will oversee the inquiry. The board said it has no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised but that the review will examine all available information. The board said Jensen Huang supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it, and it expressed confidence in him and his leadership team.

The New York Times reported last month that Jensen Huang had developed a close relationship with Alice Huang, which some people believed was romantic in nature. According to US officials, she was passing information directly back to Beijing.

Megaspeed is an Nvidia customer and is the subject of a Commerce Department investigation into whether it smuggled AI chips to China. Nvidia’s AI chips are seen as crucial to US technological supremacy, and both the Biden and Trump administrations have restricted their sale to China. President Trump has eased those restrictions but still bars sales of Nvidia’s most powerful chips to Chinese firms, and the Commerce Department must approve individual companies to handle the chips.

The board’s statement said it considers US national and economic security paramount to the interests of Nvidia and its shareholders. It said the board will provide further updates as appropriate.

Attention also centers on Jensen Huang’s warm ties with Donald Trump and on concern about what insight he may have had into the administration’s deliberations on AI. A question raised in the reporting is whether any of that information may have been shared with Alice Huang and eventually reached Beijing.

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