Nvidia's board of directors announced Saturday that it is opening an independent investigation into founder and CEO Jensen Huang, after recent reporting said the chipmaker's chief executive had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The announcement came just hours after Huang published an extraordinary apology to employees admitting that he had been unfaithful to his wife.
In a brief statement posted to Nvidia's official newsroom on November 8, the board said a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel, will oversee the inquiry. "The NVIDIA Board is initiating an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort," the statement said. For more context on this story, see our ongoing AI news.
What the board said
The board sought to draw a line between the chief executive's personal conduct and the company's security posture. "The Board prioritizes U.S. national and economic security, which is paramount to the interests of NVIDIA and its shareholders," the statement continued. While the board said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised," it added that its inquiry "will examine all available information."
The statement also made clear that Huang's position is not currently under threat. "Jensen fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it," the board said, adding that it "has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team and will provide further updates as appropriate."
The move was reported on Saturday by the New York Times, CNBC, NBC News and USA Today, among other outlets, and comes one day after the Financial Times published details of a US government memo describing a romantic relationship between Huang and a woman whom American intelligence suspects was recruited by China.
Huang's public apology
Hours before the board's announcement, Huang sent an email to Nvidia employees that the company also published in full on its newsroom site under the title "A Message to Our Company." In it, the chief executive acknowledged the affair described in the reporting.
"I owe my family and all of you an apology. I was unfaithful to my wife," Huang wrote. "My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."
Huang said he takes "full responsibility" for his actions and the hurt they caused, and expanded the apology beyond his family. "To my colleagues at NVIDIA, including those I have worked alongside for decades, and to our board, partners, and shareholders around the world: you deserve better from me," he wrote. "Leading NVIDIA is the privilege of my life. My responsibility is to serve you and be worthy of your trust. I have fallen short of that responsibility."
The intelligence memo that started it
The Financial Times reported Friday that US officials wrote earlier this year, in a memo circulated among a small group of senior Washington figures, that Huang had been romantically involved with Alice Huang, also known by her Chinese name Huang Le, a Singapore-based executive at data center company Megaspeed. According to the newspaper, the US intelligence community believes she was recruited as an agent by China's Ministry of State Security, and that her assignment was to cultivate a relationship with the Nvidia chief executive — including by encouraging him to advocate for looser export controls that would allow Nvidia to sell its most advanced AI chips into China.
The reporting built on an October story in the New York Times, which described roughly a year of US surveillance of Alice Huang, including photographs of her attendance at business dinners alongside Jensen Huang. Alice Huang could not be reached for comment by the FT, and Nvidia had declined to comment on the memo at the time of that report.
The board's Saturday statement notably mirrors the language of the government memo itself, referring to a "foreign intelligence effort" targeting the chief executive rather than confirming any of the memo's specific claims.
Washington escalates its scrutiny
The investigation lands at a delicate moment for Nvidia in Washington. Three House committees have summoned Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on November 18, according to reports, part of a bipartisan congressional examination of the company's China business and export-control lobbying. CNBC described the congressional scrutiny of Huang on Saturday as bipartisan.
Nvidia sits at the center of the US-China technology standoff: its most advanced AI chips are barred from sale in China under export controls, while the company's sales to Chinese customers remain a persistent flashpoint in negotiations between the two governments. Any investigation touching on whether foreign intelligence sought to influence the company's advocacy carries obvious political weight in that debate.
What comes next
For now, the board has framed the inquiry as a precautionary governance step rather than a response to any confirmed compromise. The company said it will provide further updates as appropriate, and Huang's apology made no reference to stepping back from his role.
Still, the combination of a public personal admission, a national-security review led by outside counsel, and a looming congressional briefing sets up a difficult stretch for the world's most valuable chipmaker, whose market value and AI data center business have made Huang one of the most closely watched executives in the world. Attention will now turn to what the independent committee finds, and whether the November 18 briefing on Capitol Hill sheds new light on the intelligence community's concerns.
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