Nvidia Board Launches Probe Into CEO Jensen Huang

The board of directors at Nvidia, the US chipmaker, has opened a formal investigation into CEO Jensen Huang. The inquiry will be led by a group of independent directors working alongside outside legal counsel. This action comes after Huang confirmed he has been in an intimate relationship with a woman accused of working for Chinese intelligence services.

In an announcement on Sunday, the company stated that it currently sees no reason to believe that national security or corporate secrets were compromised. Nevertheless, the board said the inquiry will examine all available information. It added that it maintains confidence in Huang and his leadership team, and he will remain in charge of the company while the process unfolds.

The decision follows a report published by The New York Times on October 29. That article alleged that Huang may have been the target of a Chinese espionage plot. It identified a Chinese woman named Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, as the person who sought to cultivate close ties with the Nvidia chief. Alice Huang is not related to Jensen Huang. She worked for Megaspeed, a company the Times described as one of Nvidia's largest buyers. Megaspeed purchased approximately $4.8 billion in equipment from the US firm.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC, has denied any allegations of spying in this specific case. Meanwhile, Huang addressed his employees in an email on Sunday. He admitted to an extramarital relationship and stated that his actions hurt his wife and their children. He wrote that there was no excuse for what he had done.

US lawmakers from both political parties have reacted strongly to the developments. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren noted that members of Congress had raised concerns about Nvidia's advanced AI chips going to China for months. She said Huang and the board owe Congress answers. Warren also called for the passage of bipartisan legislation to stop advanced American technology from reaching China.

Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives have taken a specific step to address the issue. They have called on Huang to appear and testify before Congress on November 18. In a statement, Representatives John Moolenaar, Brian Mast, and Rick Crawford said it is vital that Congress determines the extent to which US national security has been placed at risk.

This scandal arises during a period of intense competition between the US and China to dominate key technology sectors such as artificial intelligence. Nvidia has grown rapidly during the AI boom, producing chips for large language models developed by companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and Google. Demand for its products has pushed its valuation into the trillions of dollars. For years, the US has sought to restrict exports of advanced chips to China over fears the Asian superpower could gain a technological and military edge.

Huang has worked closely with President Donald Trump since the Republican leader returned to office in 2025. In August of that year, the Trump administration announced it would take a 15 percent cut of certain Nvidia chip sales to China. Trump reportedly bought as much as $1.6 million in Nvidia stock and sold about $1 million of it in August, ahead of the midterm elections. Following the midterm races last Tuesday, stocks of AI-related companies, including Nvidia, fell sharply in reaction to widespread Republican losses. Nvidia lost $450 billion in market value in a single trading day last week, though it rebounded on Friday, regaining 4 percent of its losses.