Nvidia's board opens an independent investigation after Jensen Huang admits an affair with a suspected Chinese spy

Nvidia's board of directors said on Sunday that it is starting an independent investigation after reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a Chinese intelligence operation. Nvidia also published a message Huang sent to staff, in which he admitted to an affair. He did not name the woman, but reports identify her as Alice Huang, a former executive at the Singapore-based chip company Megaspeed. A memo circulated among U.S. policymakers earlier this year said she had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to spy on him. "I owe my family and all of you an apology," Huang wrote, adding that he had "fallen short" of his responsibility to the company. The board said it has "no reason to believe" national security or company secrets were compromised. According to ABC, independent directors and legal counsel will oversee the review, and Huang will stay in his role. Senior House Republicans have asked Huang to brief Congress this month. China's embassy has called the allegations "groundless smears and slanders," and no one has been charged. TechCrunch reports that unnamed senior Trump administration officials told the New York Times they doubt Huang could have been unaware of her intelligence role. Yale's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld put his chances of keeping the job at "about a 50-50." Because so much of the AI industry depends on Nvidia chips, the outcome matters well beyond the company itself.