Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation on Sunday, November 8, after reports that founder and chief executive Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, and Huang told staff the same day that he had an affair with the woman at the centre of those reports, according to Dealroom and TweakTown.
The board said a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, will run the review, and it said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised", according to the reports. Huang will continue to lead the company as chief executive while the investigation proceeds.
In an email to employees released on Sunday, Huang wrote "I was unfaithful to my wife" and apologised to his family and to staff, saying he had "fallen short", according to Dealroom. Nvidia told CNBC that Huang will continue as chief executive without interruption.
The woman at the centre of the reports is Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data-centre company and Nvidia customer, according to the reports. The two are not related. The New York Times reported on October 29 that United States intelligence assessed Alice Huang had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security, and the Financial Times reported on November 7 that a memo circulated among senior American policymakers last spring described the relationship as romantic.
Those espionage claims remain allegations, not proven facts. The memo has not been made public, Alice Huang has not publicly responded to the reports, and no charges have been brought against anyone, according to the reports. Nvidia has said Huang's contacts with her were routine customer meetings, and China's foreign ministry has dismissed the spying claims as groundless.
Three Republican House committee chairs — Brian Mast of Foreign Affairs, John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on China and Rick Crawford of Intelligence — asked Huang in a letter dated November 4, released November 5, to attend a closed-door briefing on November 18 and to accept that date or offer another by November 11, according to the reports. The request is not a subpoena, and the letter does not accuse Huang or Nvidia of wrongdoing.
What happens next is a crowded week for Nvidia: the company reports quarterly earnings on November 17, the day before the proposed briefing, and Senator Chris Coons has signalled that he wants a Senate inquiry, according to the reports. The board's review, not the headlines, will determine what, if anything, is found.
Sources: Dealroom; TweakTown