Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits to having an extramarital affair with a suspected Chinese spy

Nvidia Corp. announced on Sunday that it was launching an “independent investigation” into reports that its founder and chief executive Jensen Huang was the target of a conspiracy by foreign intelligence agencies.

In response to the allegations, the Republican-led Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee of the US Congress has asked Huang (pictured right) to testify at a closed press conference this week about the chip maker’s “security protocols against espionage by foreign adversaries.” The request came after The New York Times reported last month that the CEO had been targeted by a Chinese espionage operation.

The accused spy is a woman named Alice Huang or Huang Le (left), who has no relationship to the Nvidia CEO. Alice Huang is the CEO of a Singapore-based data center company called Megaspeed, which was previously suspected of smuggling Nvidia’s high-end graphics processing units into China, prompting US officials to begin surveillance. These officials have apparently determined that Alice Huang is an employee of the Chinese intelligence service and is tasked with passing trade secrets to Beijing.

In a statement today, Nvidia’s board said that while there was no reason to believe that either U.S. national security or the company’s secrets had been compromised, the investigation would examine all available information. “The Board prioritizes U.S. national and economic security, which is paramount to the interests of Nvidia and its shareholders,” the statement said. “The Board has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team and will provide further updates as necessary.”

The company added that Huang supported the investigation into the incident and was committed to full cooperation.

A report from Axios published today cited a draft email from Huang to company employees in which he admitted to having an illicit romantic relationship with Alice Huang and took full responsibility for his actions. “I was unfaithful to my wife,” Huang wrote. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did.”

U.S. intelligence chiefs will be worried because Nvidia’s powerful chips are at the center of the artificial intelligence boom, giving America a decisive advantage over its geopolitical rivals. The company’s dominance in AI computing means Huang is one of the most influential people in the industry and has forged close ties with the Trump administration.

The suspected spy reportedly tried to exploit Huang’s close ties to American policymakers. She was tasked not only with finding out more about the company’s secrets, but also with convincing Huang to allow the company to ship its most advanced processors to China. It’s not clear how much influence she was able to exert over Huang, but last year he successfully petitioned the Trump administration to allow more GPUs to be exported to China. He later struck a deal to sell a limited number of the company’s second-most powerful chips to China.

Nothing has been said so far about Huang possibly losing his job or being fired from the company, but Yorkville Ives analyst Dan Ives told Gizmodo that such an outcome is possible. “This will add risk to the stock because it is so important to Nvidia’s story and strategy globally,” the analyst said.

The investigation follows a difficult week for technology companies on Wall Street, which weathered a selloff that began earlier this month and gained momentum after a series of disappointing earnings results in recent days. So far this month, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index has lost nearly $1 trillion in value

Nvidia shares have fallen 21% in the last month and are nearly flat year to date. The market cap is just over $4.5 trillion, down from its peak of just over $5.7 trillion in October 2026.

Photos: LinkedIn/Nvidia