BBCUnited States
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How could the Nvidia CEO’s affair threaten US national security?
Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been summoned to testify next month before a Senate committee about his alleged affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy.
Huang abruptly quit on Thursday as head of one of the world's most valuable companies after revelations of alleged extramarital affairs, in a stunning fall from grace that sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who is under scrutiny over exports of sensitive Nvidia AI chips to China, has also been summoned to appear before the Senate Banking Committee in December.
Nvidia has lost $550bn (£415bn) in stock market value in just five days as the scandal dominated headlines.
Senator Tim Scott sent letters on Thursday to Huang and Lutnick requesting their testimony in front of the Senate Banking Committee.
"Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology," the South Carolina Republican posted on X.
"The American people deserve answers," he added.
Scott asked Huang to appear voluntarily on 3 December, but also warned the panel could issue a subpoena to compel his testimony.
Three House of Representatives committees - on intelligence and foreign affairs and a panel on China - have also sent a letter to Huang summoning him for a closed-door interview on 1 December.
Lutnick is under scrutiny because unnamed officials in President Donald Trump's administration have been briefing US media that the commerce secretary stalled efforts to tighten export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China.
A commerce department spokesperson told US media that Lutnick had "proactively" agreed to appear before the Senate Banking Committee.
Huang, who has been Nvidia's public face since 1993, admitted on Sunday to having been "unfaithful" to his wife after reports he had an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, Alice Huang.
On Wednesday, he was reported to have had a second relationship, this time with an Nvidia executive.
Alice Huang (no relation) worked as an executive at the Singaporean firm Megaspeed. She has been suspected of being an intelligence asset for China, according to the New York Times. China has rejected that allegation as a smear.
Watch: What we know so far about Nvidia CEO resignation
And US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday the Department of Justice had not yet drawn any conclusions about whether Alice Huang was engaged in espionage for Beijing.
Nvidia officials have repeatedly declined to comment since Wednesday. A personal representative of Huang also declined to comment on Thursday.
According to US media, Huang's alleged second affair was with a long-time Nvidia executive, Kimberly Powell, who reported directly to him within the company.
Sources have told the BBC that Nvidia employees had noticed the pair were unusually close.
Huang had been widely expected to weather the storm after the first affair became public, even as Nvidia announced it had launched an investigation into whether its CEO had been "the target of a foreign intelligence effort".
One current Nvidia staff member told the BBC that the initial reports of his infidelity were more or less brushed off by rank-and-file workers inside the company.
It wasn't until Huang's alleged affair with the Nvidia executive became public that workers started to feel "this is crazy", the person said.
Another Nvidia employee said they had been told not to speak with the press or otherwise comment on the situation in public.
Many staff have earned millions of dollars in compensation through their ability to cash out their Nvidia shares as the stock soared.
Nvidia has said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised", but pledged that its independent inquiry would look at all available information.
The company's meteoric rise had been led by Jensen Huang, who became a major booster of the AI industry, which relies on Nvidia for the powerful computer chips it manufactures.
Initially those chips were designed for computer gaming.
But as AI technology evolved in the last four years into chatbots and large language models, companies building AI tools suddenly required huge numbers of the Nvidia computer chips that could process large amounts of data.
Nvidia is now hunting a permanent replacement for Huang. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress was named on Thursday as interim CEO.
Several tech insiders that the BBC spoke with this week noted that Huang's downfall has been a major topic of conversation in San Francisco Bay area circles, an area filled with tech employees, industry executives and billionaires.
Huang has been married to Lori Huang for 40 years. Both of their children are also executives at Nvidia.
Nvidia's stock fall this week is the most significant five-day drop the company has seen since going public 27 years ago.
Its market value rose by more than 470% in the past five years, peaking just a few weeks ago. It is now down by 31% against a backdrop of wider uncertainty in the tech sector.
Who could replace Jensen Huang as Nvidia's chief executive?
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns after tech giant rocked by second affair allegation
The rise and fall of Jensen Huang - how the tech superstar became mired in scandal
Open article →GDELTWashington D.C.
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Senior White House officials are separately discussing whether Lutnick should be pushed out
[WASHINGTON] US Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott sent letters on Thursday (Nov 12) to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Nvidia’s former CEO Jensen Huang asking them to testify over recent developments at the company.
Huang stepped down from Nvidia, one of the major engines behind the AI boom, after reports of a romantic relationship with a businesswoman named Alice Huang whom US authorities suspect of spying for the Chinese government.
In addition, a growing number of lawmakers have criticised Lutnick for the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to a key US trade blacklist, and over whether the government was properly overseeing Nvidia’s exports to China.
“Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology,” Scott wrote on X. “I am requesting that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testify before the Senate Banking Committee.”
Spokespeople for Huang and Lutnick could not immediately be reached.
Scott said he would consider subpoenaing Huang if he does not voluntarily appear. “The American people deserve answers,” Scott said.
Find out how enterprises are navigating power constraints and sustainability targets
Senior White House officials were separately discussing whether Lutnick should be pushed out, two people familiar with the situation said, as the desire to take action rose across Washington.
Separately, the chairs of three House committees, including the head of the foreign affairs panel, Brian Mast, wrote to Huang and Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter, requiring them to appear for closed-door transcribed interviews on Dec 1 and 2, respectively, or face subpoenas to compel their appearances.
“There are clear national security concerns that need to be addressed immediately,” Mast, as well as House China Select Committee chair John Moolenaar and House Intelligence Committee chair Rick Crawford, wrote in the letter.
They also asked Under-Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler to testify at a Dec 3 hearing.
China has denied Alice Huang is a spy and US Attorney-General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that the Justice Department has not yet reached a conclusion on whether she is or not. Alice Huang could not be reached for comment. REUTERS
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Open article →NBCUnited States
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Jensen Huang, who once led the most valuable company in the world, resigned from his post as Nvidia CEO today after an affair with a suspected Chinese spy. Huang had co-founded Nvidia in 1993, and it became a juggernaut making the chips underpinning much of the AI boom.
Open article →WIREDUnited States
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This week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted to an affair with Alice Huang, a businesswoman that US intelligence says was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security. On Uncanny Valley , Brian Barrett, Zoë Schiffer, and Leah Feiger break down what this means for Nvidia, for the AI industry, and for the chip export controls Huang has long pushed back against. Plus, now that the Democrats have swept the midterms, white nationalists, Christian nationalists, and the Proud Boys are declaring the MAGA movement dead and saying the Republican Party is theirs for the taking.
You can follow Brian Barrett on Bluesky at @brbarrett , Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer , and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger . Write to us at [email protected] .
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Note: This is an automated transcript, which may contain errors.
Brian Barrett : Welcome to WIRED's Uncanny Valley . I'm Brian Barrett, executive editor.
Zoë Schiffer : I'm Zoë Schiffer, contributing editor.
Leah Feiger : And I'm Leah Feiger, director of politics and science.
Zoë Schiffer : This week, we're getting into the scandal that has had everyone talking. On Sunday, Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang admitted to having an affair with a businesswoman who US intelligence says is also a Chinese spy.
Brian Barrett : The affair has brought up all kinds of questions from what information might have been linked to China to why the White House was previously warned about the relationship but didn't do much about it seemingly. We're taking a step back and discussing what this whole mess means for the AI industry at large and for the future of the chip export controls that Jensen Huang has pushed back against for so long.
Leah Feiger : And after last week's democratic sweep in the midterms, you would think that the far-right would be hiding in the corner, licking their wounds. And they did for about a week, but that's all. Instead, now white nationalists, Christian nationalists, and the Proud Boys have declared that the MAGA movement is dead and the Republican Party is theirs for the taking . We're going to get into what these groups are saying and why they see the election results as an opportunity.
Zoë Schiffer : OK. So this past weekend, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sent a message to his employees that no CEO ever wants to write. He admitted basically that he has been having an affair with this woman, Alice Huang. Same last name, no relation. I keep laughing at that. I'm like, the only way this scandal could be more insane is if they were second cousins or something, but in fact, no.
Brian Barrett : And this is not something people care about necessarily, but it does make writing these stories a little bit trickier because you have to sort of switch back to first names for a while. Anyway, yes, but not the point.
Zoë Schiffer : I feel like it's fairly obvious that they're not related. However, yeah, I guess you do need to say it out loud. The New York Times has been reporting for weeks that US intelligence identified she was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security, basically they're like CIA, to gather information on him. Nvidia's board has now opened an investigation into this incident and Huang is absolutely staying in charge, at least for now while this all plays out. But this whole saga has been both a very embarrassing PR nightmare with potential national security consequences, and it has the company on track to lose more than $470 billion in market value over just two days.
Leah Feiger : It's an unbelievable amount of money for an also unbelievable story. Honeypotting in this day and age, incredible stuff. Zoë, I'm sorry to be this person, but can you take us through year by year what we knew, when we knew it? Because this whole scandal didn't just break in the last couple of days.
Zoë Schiffer : Let me go back to 2023. This is when Megaspeed, the company that Alice Huang is in charge of, was created and it splits off from a Chinese gaming company just a few months after the US began restricting advanced chip exports to China. And the reason that this is important is a couple things. Number one, Malaysia where this company is operating out of, almost immediately when the export controls become a thing is identified as a very obvious loophole. Malaysia doesn't have a big AI industry , so if you see big data centers cropping up and they're full of Nvidia chips, you can be sure that those chips are actually on their way to China. And in fact, it looks like most people in Silicon Valley and in the Trump administration were aware of this and it just wasn't a huge deal. The other thing that's worth saying is that Alice Huang was a former TV journalist. This is not someone with a computer science background. It's not the person you would expect to be in charge of a company that becomes a very big part, a very important part of Nvidia's business. So in 2024, Jensen begins appearing in public with Alice Huang. Around this time, they're photographed together multiple times. Their body language is a little bit funny. So there are whispers starting at least inside the company. And again, Megaspeed begins multi-billion dollar purchases of advanced Nvidia chips, which looks a little suss. And I think it's very, very, very difficult, some might say impossible to imagine that Jensen isn't fully aware of where the chips are headed.
Brian Barrett : Yeah. Well, and he also has been very vocal about saying, "I think China should have chips." He doesn't feel any... Yeah.
Leah Feiger : Few AI executives have had as much sway over Trump's approach to AI and China as Huang, and he's made his position incredibly clear multiple times.
Jensen Huang, archival audio : I did my best to inform the policymakers in the United States of the importance of engaging the Chinese market and making sure that we serve that market for as long as we can. I've been very clear that even though although we compete against China, they're not our enemies. If we care deeply about the safety of the world with respect to artificial intelligence, then of course we must open dialogues. We must work with them in every possible way.
Zoë Schiffer : He was vocal about this before he and Alice knew each other.
Zoë Schiffer : This is a core part of his belief system. The two theories are either you sell advanced chips to China and thus China becomes reliant on US chips and maybe they don't build their own industry or you don't and you hope that you kneecap them in the short term and your AI industry is able to stay far enough ahead that it's not a huge problem. But Jensen had a very legitimate, I think, argument here. Obviously now he's never allowed to talk about export controls ever again because he's going to look-
Brian Barrett : I bet he will though. I bet he will.
Zoë Schiffer : I mean, maybe. Yeah. But it's like China does do this. They make competitive hardware all the time and then underprice it, and so it harms US industry. And I think that in addition to this being a very good business play, Nvidia could have doubled its business because China is going through the same data center build out that the US is. He also had a national security argument that wasn't totally farfetched.
Brian Barrett : I think too, and I think he also, I've heard him argue, it's a related point, but I think if China builds their own competitive chips, then they'll build their own whole tech stack and you'll have this entire world of AI that is largely open source, open weight, broadly accessible that the US is totally shut out of because it's not just Nvidia chips, it's everything around them. Setting the merits
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President Trump weighed in on the search for a permanent CEO shortly after Nvidia’s announcement about Jensen Huang's resignation, saying that Apple executive chair Tim Cook should take the role. NBC News' Allie Canal and New York Times contributor Don Clark discuss Cook's industry experience and the background of interim CEO Colette Kress.
Open article →WIREDUnited States
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Jensen Huang stepped down as the chief executive of Nvidia on Thursday, four days after the company announced its internal investigation into an affair he had with Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, an alleged asset of China’s Ministry of State Security.
“Jensen Huang has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately,” the Nvidia board said in a statement. Nvidia’s chief financial officer, Colette Kress, will serve as interim CEO. The board said it “will consider internal and external candidates” for a permanent replacement.
The board’s investigation was announced on November 8, slightly less than two weeks after The New York Times reported that the chief executive had been the target of a Chinese intelligence operation facilitated through his relationship with Alice Huang, who has no known relation to Jensen. The pair have been spotted in public together at least twice, in June 2024 and May 2025 . On November 11, The New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also allegedly had a relationship with a direct report at Nvidia.
The alleged relationship with a subordinate, along with Huang’s business dealings with Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI company where Alice Huang previously held a senior position, likely played a greater role in the board’s decision to oust Huang than the Chinese espionage allegations, a source familiar with the matter tells WIRED.
US intelligence officials reportedly briefed President Donald Trump on Huang’s relationship with Alice last year, but the president did not act on it. On November 6, The New York Times and Financial Times reported that Alice was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security and that she had been recruited to collect information on the Nvidia executive. (The Chinese government has rejected all claims that Alice was a spy for the country. )
Huang sent a companywide email on Sunday acknowledging his affair, apologizing to his family and Nvidia employees, and pledging cooperation with the internal investigation. The executive has been married to his wife, Lori Huang, since 1985 , and both of the couple’s two children work at the company.
On Monday, WIRED exclusively reported that last year Huang began working with a crisis PR firm to manage his personal communications. In October 2025, those PR consultants started to be looped in on all press inquiries involving Huang, whether those inquiries were personal or professional in nature.
The timing lines up with a New York Times report that month that the US Commerce Department was investigating whether Alice Huang’s Megaspeed was helping Chinese companies get around American export controls with the help of a vast web of subsidiaries. The investigation was reportedly halted and transferred to the Justice Department after Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter inquired about it.
Huang has been a vocal critic of these export controls, which he argues unnecessarily constrain the market for American chips, create discrete Chinese and American tech ecosystems, and spur China to build competitive chips of its own. Huang has worked to develop a relationship with Trump in order to advocate for policies that are advantageous for Nvidia, including the idea of opening its markets to China.
Huang cofounded Nvidia in 1993 with friends Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. The trio reportedly brainstormed their vision for the company in a Denny’s diner and aspired to bring realistic 3D graphics to personal computers. For the first few decades of its existence, Nvidia was primarily known in the gaming community for creating chips powerful enough to render high-quality in-game graphics.
In 2012, after a new kind of neural network known as AlexNet won a high-profile prize in computer vision, Nvidia pivoted from high-speed computer graphics to building chips that would support artificial intelligence. Huang has repeatedly said that the introduction of AlexNet, which was developed by AI engineers Alex Krizhevsky, Ilya Sutskever, and Geoffrey Hinton, was a “Big Bang”–like event for computing.
Because its new GPUs proved highly effective at powering AI models that require massive amounts of processing power, the value of Nvidia shares soared in 2023 and 2024, in lockstep with the broader AI boom that began sweeping through the world economy. In the summer of 2025, Nvidia became the first company in history to cross $4 trillion in value.
As of September 2026, the company controlled about 90 percent of the GPU market. Much of Nvidia’s epic rise over the few decades has been attributed not just to its cutting-edge chips and its software “moat,” CUDA, that keeps developers locked into those chips, but also to the fast-thinking, controlling, charismatic, and often bombastic leadership style of Huang himself. Now, that critical part of the company’s success is out.
Open article →NBCUnited States
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has resigned in the wake of reports that he had multiple extramarital relationships, including one with a suspected agent of China and another with an executive who reports to him — a stunning turn of events for the head of a company at the heart of the global AI investment boom.
In a statement, Nvidia’s board said: “Colette Kress, current Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of NVIDIA, has agreed to serve as Interim Chief Executive Officer.”
The company also named its first chairman. That role will be filled by Harvey Jones, who is a former CEO of major chip company Synopsys. The addition of a chairman is a major governance overhaul at the company that for decades relied solely on Huang.
Nvidia’s board met Wednesday night to address Huang’s future at the company, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News, adding that the White House was aware of the meeting.
Nvidia shares plunged more than 11% after the board’s announcement.
Huang, 63, had been with Nvidia since he co-founded the Silicon Valley chipmaker in the early 1990s, and he presided over the company during its meteoric rise amid the AI boom of the past several years.
In Collette Kress, Nvidia’s board selected a steady hand to steer the company in its most uncertain period ever.
Kress has been the company’s chief financial officer since 2013. She is a familiar face to Wall Street, regularly appearing at conferences and discussing the intricacies of the company’s sprawling operations. Before Nvidia, Kress worked at Cisco, another major technology company, and Microsoft.
Kress, a highly regarded executive, is widely trusted by the Wall Street community. Huang long leaned on her during financial conferences and the company’s earnings calls to debrief the investing public about the latest developments with the company’s operations.
Nvidia’s board said that it would search for a permanent CEO and consider internal and external candidates.
Kress’ ascension to the CEO suite comes after the second largest public company in the world was hit with multiple scandals involving its founder.
On Wednesday, The New York Times , citing five people who worked at Nvidia, reported that Huang had an extramarital relationship with a married healthcare executive who reported to him, which appears to run afoul of Nvidia’s code of conduct. NBC News has not independently verified the claims.
Nvidia and the executive did not respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday about the Times’ report.
The report concerning the alleged relationship followed reports that Huang had an affair with Alice Huang, a businesswoman believed to be a spy for China. The two Huangs are not related.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio circulated a memo to officials in the Trump administration this spring outlining how U.S. intelligence showed that Huang was in a romantic relationship with a business executive who was an asset of China’s spy service, according to a person familiar with Nvidia and a former national security official with knowledge of the matter. The New York Times and the Financial Times , citing people familiar with the matter, first reported on the memo last week.
Alice Huang held a senior position at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that was buying advanced chips from Nvidia. Megaspeed and other related firms remain under U.S. criminal investigation of allegations they smuggled American-made chips into China.
Alice Huang’s precise role and relationship with China’s spy service is unclear. It is possible she was not a career spy for China’s spy agency, the Ministry of State Security, but was asked to cooperate and share information based on her access to Jensen Huang, according to the former national security official.
On Sunday, Nvidia’s board announced it was investigating whether Huang had fallen victim to a foreign intelligence plot. It said Tuesday that it had hired a former acting U.S. attorney and his law firm to conduct the investigation.
Huang apologized in a memo to employees and said he supported the independent investigation.
“I was unfaithful to my wife,” he wrote. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
Multiple Washington officials have called for greater scrutiny of Nvidia and for Huang to testify about his relationship with the suspected Chinese agent in the wake of the reports.
China has denied the allegations, calling them “purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China.”
Even before Wednesday’s Times report, Nvidia shares had plunged 11% this week, wiping out nearly $500 billion in paper value. Huang’s departure leaves a host of unknowns at the company, the valuation of which has soared to more than $1 trillion amid insatiable demand for its GPU chips. Those specialized processors underpin the AI applications that have powered the stock market and economic growth writ large to new heights.
For years, Huang has effectively been the chief ambassador for the artificial intelligence industry, appearing regularly alongside heads of state and other CEOs as the industry spends trillions of dollars investing and building AI models and data centers.
Nvidia acknowledged Huang’s contributions to the sector in its Thursday announcement. “Jensen’s contributions to NVIDIA are profound,” a statement said. “The Board and the company thank Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.”
After coming up with the idea for Nvidia at a Denny’s restaurant in Silicon Valley with co-founders Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, Huang built the company into a $4 trillion global chip behemoth over the following 30-plus years.
Before Wednesday’s report of a second affair, many high-profile figures across Silicon Valley, Wall Street and Washington had come to Huang’s defense. President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that Huang had “done an amazing job for our country.”
“I think he’s an honorable guy,” Trump said. “I think he probably has an excuse for it. You have to hear it.”
Shaun Maguire, a partner at the venture capital group Sequoia, said on X that Huang is “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of this generation,” adding that “two mistakes don’t make a right, and I believe Jensen is irreplaceable for America’s AI leadership.”
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk responded under Maguire’s post, writing: “I agree.”
Before the decision, Musk said in a response to a post Wednesday night that it “would be an honor” to hire Huang.
Rob Wile is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist covering breaking business stories for NBCNews.com.
Steve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.
Open article →BBCUnited States
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Nvidia and its CEO Jensen Huang have endured a tumultuous week, as the company's boss became embroiled in scandal involving a suspected Chinese spy.
Huang admitted to the extramarital affair in an email apology to Nvidia employees on Sunday, saying "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."
The story took another turn after the New York Times reported on Wednesday that Huang had a second affair with an executive at Nvidia.
The BBC's China correspondent Laura Bicker explains the timeline of events and what's next for Nvidia as its board considers whether to oust the CEO.
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Nvidia has appointed a 13-year veteran executive behind some of its biggest financing deals as interim CEO after the abrupt resignation of its longtime leader shook Silicon Valley.
With Jensen Huang stepping down over reports of extramarital relationships, including with a suspected Chinese spy , Nvidia on Thursday turned to Colette Kress to take control. Kress is a high-ranking financial executive who regularly communicated with Wall Street analysts and investors as the company burgeoned into a $4 trillion linchpin in the artificial intelligence industry.
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Kress has been a key architect of Nvidia's strategy of striking partnerships with and investing in companies that are also customers in what are referred to as “circular financing” deals. The arrangements have raised concerns about financial risk.
For example, Nvidia holds a nearly 13% stake in the neocloud company CoreWeave, which purchases Nvidia chips and rents out the computing power to companies developing AI models. When shares of Nvidia slid Thursday, CoreWeave shares plunged 7%.
The company also has financing deals with the AI lab OpenAI and the neocloud Nebius, among others.
Kress joined the California chipmaker in 2013 as executive vice president and chief financial officer. She takes over for Huang, known for his black-leather jacket, who became something of a global spokesman for the power of AI, whose sudden departure spooked Wall Street.
Shares have fallen more than 30% since the shares hit an all-time high in October, falling another 5% Thursday.
A singular figure in the tech world , Jensen Huang faced growing calls to step down after The New York Times reported on his relationship with Alice Huang, a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy. (The two Huangs are not related). Late Wednesday, the paper and other outlets reported on another inappropriate relationship between Jensen Huang and another Nvidia executive who reported to him.
In a statement Thursday, Kress said that Nvidia’s “strength has always come from its people" and that she would build on the "extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years.”
Nvidia's high-end chips have become the building blocks used to build out AI. And in her CFO role, Kress was a key architect in financing deals with many of Nvidia's biggest customers that include AI titans from Anthropic to CoreWeave.
Yorkville Ives financial analyst Dan Ives said Thursday that he and his team are “big fans” of Kress, though he's not convinced that she will be Huang's permanent replacement.
“Colette Kress has built enormous credibility internally and externally,” Ives wrote, but there's a “good chance Nvidia's board looks to the outside for a CEO.”
Kress has a long resume in the tech world. Prior to joining Nvidia, she worked at Cisco, Microsoft and Texas Instruments in a variety of roles, according to an executive bio on the company’s website. She is a University of Arizona graduate with an MBA from Southern Methodist University.
Thanks to Nvidia’s soaring stock, Kress is one of the world’s wealthiest executives with a personal worth estimated by Forbes in June of over $1 billion dollars, though Nvidia shares have fallen by nearly third since then. She was awarded a pay package worth $14 million for Nvidia's fiscal 2026, according to Nvidia's proxy statement.
Nvidia did not directly address the extramarital relationships in Thursday’s announcement. But over the weekend, the company said it was investigating whether Jensen Huang was “the target of a foreign intelligence effort" — and the then-CEO separately apologized for being unfaithful to his wife. A person familiar with the matter told NBC News that Alice Huang is suspected of collaborating with China’s Ministry of State Security.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio circulated a memo to officials in the Trump administration this spring outlining how U.S. intelligence showed that Jensen Huang was in a romantic relationship with a business executive who was an asset of China’s spy service, a person familiar with Nvidia and a former national security official with knowledge of the matter told NBC News . The New York Times and the Financial Times first reported on the memo last week.
China’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed the spying allegations .
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is facing another round of scrutiny after The New York Times reported that he had an extramarital relationship with a senior executive who reported directly to him. The report identifies the executive as Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, and cites five people who had worked at the company.
The development comes days after Huang admitted to being unfaithful to his wife in a message to employees, following separate allegations involving a Chinese businesswoman suspected by US intelligence officials of having links to Beijing. The latest revelations have widened the controversy beyond Huang's personal life, bringing his workplace conduct, Nvidia's corporate governance and the future of its leadership under the spotlight.
MUST READ | Jensen Huang returns to Nvidia office after affair admission: What happened when he faced employees
Who is Kimberly Powell, the Nvidia executive named in the report?
According to the November 11 report by The New York Times , Huang allegedly had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, who reports directly to him. Powell joined Nvidia in 2008 and became its vice president of healthcare in 2017. Both Huang, 63, and Powell, 48, are married to other people.
The report also describes an incident at a hotel in San Jose during an Nvidia conference in March 2026. Huang and Powell were reportedly filmed being affectionate. The NYT said it had not obtained the video but spoke to people familiar with the incident.
DON'T MISS | Nvidia in choppy waters: Jensen Huang's future hangs in the balance as board weighs his exit
Three people briefed on the episode told the newspaper that members of Huang's security team approached the person who recorded the interaction and attempted to get them to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
When contacted by the NYT, Huang reportedly responded, "I don't think you should be talking to me directly," before ending the call. Powell did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment. Nvidia also did not immediately comment on the latest report.
Huang's earlier admission and Nvidia's investigation
The latest allegation follows Huang's November 8 message to Nvidia employees, in which he admitted being unfaithful to his wife and apologised to his family, colleagues and shareholders. He said there was no excuse for his actions and expressed hope that he could rebuild his family's trust.
The admission came amid a separate controversy involving Alice Huang , a Chinese businesswoman associated with Singapore-based Megaspeed. US intelligence officials have reportedly been investigating whether she was involved in an effort to obtain sensitive information and facilitate access to Nvidia chips for Chinese companies. Jensen Huang has said he had no knowledge of any alleged intelligence links.
Nvidia's board has initiated an independent investigation and hired outside legal counsel. The company has said it has no reason to believe its secrets or US national security information were compromised.
Nvidia board reportedly considers Huang's removal
The controversy took another turn after The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia's board was preparing to discuss Huang's future and consider removing him as CEO. Reuters subsequently reported that the board was meeting to decide whether to remove the company's co-founder.
Nvidia shares fell more than 8% in after-hours trading on Wednesday, November 11, following the reports. The development has raised concerns among investors about a potential leadership vacuum at the AI chipmaker, particularly with Huang having led the company for more than three decades.
US lawmakers have also sought answers from Huang over the separate national security allegations, with a congressional subpoena reportedly possible if he does not agree to a closed-door briefing.
Nvidia is scheduled to announce its quarterly earnings on November 17. The coming days could therefore prove important for the company as it navigates questions about its CEO, corporate governance and investor confidence.
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NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with former CIA analyst Emily Harding about China's spy tactics in light of the alleged plot targeting the CEO of Nvidia.
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Reported relationship with a direct report deepens the spy probe fallout and puts executive conduct and CEO succession in focus
Nvidia's board of directors is preparing to oust co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang after he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a woman US intelligence officials believe is a Chinese spy , The Wall Street Journal reported . The board was preparing to meet as soon as Wednesday, US time, to determine Huang's future.
The report landed minutes after The New York Times reported that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care, who reported to him. Powell joined Nvidia in 2008 and leads the company's worldwide health care business, according to her company bio. The Times reported the pair were captured on camera being affectionate at a hotel in San Jose, California, in March 2026.
Nvidia shares fell about 8 per cent in after-hours trading following the reports, according to CNBC .
The second reported relationship shifts the story from a personal and national security matter to a workplace one. A romantic relationship between a CEO and a subordinate raises questions about conflicts of interest , favouritism and the integrity of reporting lines.
The reported move marks a sharp turn from the board's position just days earlier. On 8 November, Huang told staff in an internal letter: "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."
That affair involved Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data company Megaspeed, a major Nvidia customer. US intelligence officials believe she works for China's Ministry of State Security, according to reporting by the Financial Times and The New York Times.
The same day, the board launched an independent investigation, stating in its official statement to investors that it "has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team". It later hired law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to lead the probe, CNBC reported.
HRD's earlier coverage of the Nvidia spy probe and succession gap noted that Huang had said he would remain CEO while the investigation proceeded.
Nvidia has no publicly named successor. The company runs a flat structure built around Huang, with dozens of direct reports. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives estimated Nvidia's valuation could fall 25 to 30 per cent if Huang left as CEO, according to Yahoo Finance's live coverage.
For Australian HR leaders, the case is a reminder that leadership continuity needs attention long before a crisis hits – a lesson HRD examined in what a US giant's spectacular collapse teaches employers about succession planning .
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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has become the face of the US AI boom
Nvidia has hired one of the largest law firms in the US to investigate the affair between its own chief executive and an alleged Chinese spy.
Jensen Huang, who co-founded the tech company, has admitted to having a romantic relationship outside of his marriage. The woman, Alice Huang, is alleged to be a spy for Beijing.
Nvidia said on Tuesday that it had hired New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and that its attorney Joon Kim would lead "a thorough and independent investigation". The FBI is also conducting its own probe .
The company's share price has fallen almost to a yearly low, with $500bn (£375bn) wiped of its stock market value since Friday.
Nvidia is widely considered one of the most important companies behind the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, given it is the sole manufacturer of a computer chip used in AI tools.
It is the world's second most valuable company after Apple and its chips have become a matter of national security for US officials who are keen to win the AI race.
Alice Huang, who is also known as Huang Le, and is not related to Jensen Huang, was an executive at Singaporean company Megaspeed, which has been a customer of Nvidia.
Megaspeed had been suspected of helping divert Nvidia chips to China, a concern that Nvidia has said was investigated and debunked.
Nvidia has also maintained that the US government did not inform it that Megaspeed posed an intelligence concern.
What we know so far about Jensen Huang's affair with suspected Chinese spy
Zoe Kleinman: Nvidia CEO's affair will cause ripples across US and beyond
According to the New York Times, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to top officials in Washington earlier this year warning that Jensen Huang was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy.
Beijing has rejected claims that the Nvidia chief has been targeted, with its foreign ministry saying the allegations were "intended to smear and malign China".
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had spoken to Jensen Huang, who had said he had "no idea she was a spy." Trump said he believed him.
However, the relationship has drawn more political attention. Congressional leaders of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs have asked Huang to appear next week for a closed door briefing.
The Nvidia boss has yet to say whether he will attend, a person familiar with the committee's demand told the BBC. The committee has the authority to subpoena Huang, effectively forcing him to appear before it, if deemed necessary.
When announcing on Sunday that it would investigate the affair, Nvidia's board said it had no reason to believe the company's secrets or national security were compromised.
It added that a committee of independent directors would oversee the probe.
Watch: Who is suspected Chinese spy at centre of Nvidia affair investigation?
Wachtell is one of the largest law firms in the US and has several notable clients in the tech industry. Among them are OpenAI and Salesforce.
Joon Kim is a former US Attorney for New York's Southern District and spent several years working as a government attorney focusing on fraud and other criminal acts.
The Nvidia investigation will likely be treated as urgent, according to sources familiar with the matter, as Jensen Huang's public image is tightly intertwined with the company.
He has become a key public figure in the development on AI, arguing the technology is a "new industrial revolution" and is on par with the advent of electricity.
It is unclear, however, if Wachtell will be able to interview Alice Huang.
A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment on Tuesday when asked if Jensen Huang had retained any of his own legal representation amid the company investigation and the separate one launched by the FBI.
Trump says FBI investigating Nvidia boss's affair with alleged Chinese spy
Faisal Islam: What the boss of US tech giant Nvidia told me about China and national security
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Nvidia’s board of directors announced Tuesday that it had hired a prominent former prosecutor and a top Wall Street law firm to probe the events surrounding CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with a woman believed to be a spy for China.
“The independent members of the NVIDIA Board have retained former acting U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct a thorough and independent investigation as was announced on Sunday,” the company said in a statement.
The announcement followed revelations over the weekend that included Huang’s admission of an extramarital affair. U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen and business executive, spied for Beijing, sources told NBC News.
The hiring of Kim and his law firm raises the stakes significantly for Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993. Many of Nvidia’s board members have worked alongside Huang for decades and become wealthier with him.
But Tuesday’s announcement signaled that Nvidia’s board does not intend its probe to serve as a rubber stamp for Huang’s actions.
Wachtell Lipton is one of the nation’s most influential law firms, and its attorneys have track records of taking on corporate titans. As Wall Street’s top cop, Kim battled mob bosses and billion-dollar hedge funds in the U.S. attorney’s office.
As of Tuesday, Jensen Huang remained in his post as Nvidia’s CEO, and a spokesperson for the company told NBC News over the weekend that he was focused on leading the trillion-dollar AI chip giant “without interruption.”
President Donald Trump said Monday that the FBI was also probing the events.
Trump said Huang “had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy,” adding, “I really believe him.”
The recent developments have caused Nvidia shares to sell off by more than 10% since trading opened on Monday morning. The move has erased almost $500 billion of value from the $4 trillion company in just two days.
The sell-off was the latest blow in a weekslong decline for Nvidia stock already underway. After hitting its last record high on Oct. 6, shares in the chip designer have plunged by 31%.
That drop has erased more than $1.7 trillion in market value.
Adding to the downward pressure on Nvidia shares Tuesday was new reporting from The New York Times that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had twice warned Trump about Huang’s entanglement with Chinese intelligence.
“Trump was told aboard Air Force One in May en route to China that the United States had obtained sensitive intelligence showing that Nvidia’s chief executive was in a relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy,” the Times reported.
NBC News has not confirmed the report and has reached out to the State Department for comment.
Rubio’s warning to Trump reportedly came shortly before Huang joined Trump aboard Air Force One during a pit stop in Alaska on its way to Beijing, where Trump was making a state visit.
Huang had not been among the White House’s initial list of business leaders invited on the trip, according to reports at the time.
But Trump denied this, writing on social media on May 12 that Huang would be joining him on the state visit.
“Jensen is currently on Air Force One,” Trump posted midflight.
On Monday, Trump was asked if he had been briefed about Huang before that trip.
“I didn’t hear about it then,” Trump claimed. Pressed a second time about when he became aware of Huang’s relationship with the alleged spy, Trump said he would “have to check.”
“They could have been mentioned,” he said. “Certainly, it didn’t make much of an impact on me.”
“He’s an amazing guy,” Trump said of Huang. “I hope there’s no problem.”
“If there is a problem, we’ll let you know about it,” the president continued, “but I hope there’s no problem.”
Steve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.
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Nvidia, the world’s most valuable chipmaker, is facing major stock market losses and new scrutiny in Washington where the concern for national security and the demand for answers is growing. NBC’s Brian Cheung reports for TODAY. Nov. 10, 2026
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"He's suffering": Trump answers BBC question about Nvidia's Jensen Huang
US President Donald Trump has said the FBI is investigating the affair between the chief executive of Nvidia and an alleged Chinese spy.
Trump said he spoke to Jensen Huang on Monday following reports that the US believed he had been targeted in a Chinese espionage campaign.
"I asked him that question, 'Did you have any idea she was a spy?' He said 'I had no idea she was a spy' and I really believe him," Trump told reporters.
Beijing has rejected claims that Huang was targeted, with its foreign ministry saying the allegations were "entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China".
Speaking later at a White House press briefing, Trump told reporters, "I know the FBI is looking into" the affair but did not give further details on the investigation, or confirm when it was launched.
Trump added he thought that Huang was an "honourable guy and I feel very confident that he will be in good shape" after the investigations.
The FBI declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
Nvidia, which has commissioned an independent investigation into the affair involving Alice Huang, alleged to be a Chinese spy, said it had no reason to believe the company's secrets or national security were compromised.
Nvidia is the world's second most valuable company after Apple, and designs computer chips that have become central to AI technology.
The revelations knocked about $250bn (£190bn) off Nvidia's value on Monday as the company's share price fell by more than 4%.
US intelligence officials believe Alice Huang , also known as Huang Le, was a spy for Beijing, according to a New York Times report. She is not related to Jensen Huang.
According to the newspaper, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to top officials in Washington in spring this year, warning that the Nvidia boss was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy.
What we know so far about Jensen Huang's affair with suspected Chinese spy
Nvidia shares tumble over investigation into Huang's affair with alleged Chinese spy
Alice Huang was managing director of Singaporean company Megaspeed, which has had dealings with Nvidia.
Trump's remarks are the first indication of whether Nvidia's Huang knew about the woman's alleged ties to Chinese espionage.
Megaspeed's office in Singapore's central business district appeared to be operational and staffed on Tuesday.
The BBC was refused entry to its floor, but spoke to a staff member by phone who said they had no comment and directed all queries to the company's PR team.
The BBC has emailed Megaspeed several times for comment.
Nvidia, co-founded by Jensen Huang, is also a major focus in the AI technology race between the US and China, with officials in Washington treating its exports to Beijing as a matter of national security - a key reason why Huang's affair has sparked concerns.
Also on Monday, Huang and Nvidia were sued in a proposed class action lawsuit in California that accuses them of defrauding shareholders by concealing his ties with the suspected Chinese spy.
The lawsuit alleges that the company lied to the media about Jensen Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, "who is suspected of seeking to help smuggle Nvidia products to China."
The BBC has contacted Nvidia for comment on the lawsuit.
At the White House, Trump was asked several times when he was made aware of the relationship. He said he was informed "over a period of time" but was not specific.
"I hope there's no problem, I believe he is suffering greatly," the president added.
He said he spoke to Huang on the phone on Monday "just to see if he's feeling alright, how you doing and I asked him about that and he said he absolutely had no idea that the person in question was a spy".
Trump has raised concerns that allowing China to lead in AI would supercharge Beijing's military and surveillance capabilities.
The president added he was "sure" Chinese leader Xi Jinping would "ask me about it" when they next met.
Watch: Who is suspected Chinese spy at centre of Nvidia affair investigation?
Huang has admitted that he was "unfaithful" to his wife and apologised for hurting her and their children.
He said on Monday that he was "committed to protecting Nvidia and supporting America's national security" and would cooperate with the investigation the company had launched.
Huang has also been requested to appear for a joint closed-door briefing for several Congressional committees next week, however it is unclear whether Huang will appear.
A letter said the briefing would be "on Nvidia's security protocols against foreign adversary espionage and your interactions with a publicly reported People's Republic of China (PRC) intelligence asset: Megaspeed executive Alice Huang".
Nvidia has declined to comment, while the the BBC has also contacted the committees.
Zoe Kleinman: Nvidia CEO's affair will cause ripples across US and beyond
AI stocks climb after trillions wiped from market values
Some workers the BBC spoke to at Nvidia's Santa Clara headquarters on Monday said it was business as usual, despite the intense attention on the company.
Nvidia has been around for decades, with Huang founding it with two other engineers in 1993, but its rise to one of the world's most valuable and powerful companies has only been recent.
It originally designed computer chips for gaming, but its decision to shift focus to AI development turned it into the powerhouse it is today.
Its chips have become so valuable to the AI buildout that the White House previously imposed controls on where its advanced products could be sold.
The H200, Nvidia's second most advanced semiconductor, had previously been restricted over concerns that it would give China's technology industry an edge over the US.
But Huang has long been against restricting sales to China, arguing that it would be better for the global rollout of AI to be powered by US technology.
In January, the Trump administration said it would allow the company to sell its H200 chips to Chinese customers under certain conditions.
Nvidia's most advanced AI semiconductors including the GB200 Blackwell super chip remain blocked from the Chinese market.
Additional reporting by Tessa Wong in Singapore
Why Trump is all-in on AI despite the warnings
What is AI, how does it work and why are some people concerned about it?
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Watch: Who is suspected Chinese spy at centre of Nvidia affair investigation?
One of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) industry's most important figures has been accused of having an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, prompting an investigation.
US intelligence officials believed that Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, who had a close relationship with Nvidia CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang, was a spy for Beijing , according to a New York Times report.
On Sunday, Huang admitted , external to having been "unfaithful" to his wife and apologised for hurting her and their children.
US tech giant Nvidia, one of the most valuable companies in the world, has opened an independent investigation into the reports. The firm said it does not believe US national security had been compromised - and added that Huang was committed to continuing to lead the company.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the FBI is also investigating the affair .
The FBI declined to comment further when contacted by the BBC.
Trump said he spoke with Huang on Monday following reports that the US believed he had been targeted in a Chinese espionage campaign.
"I asked him that question, 'Did you have any idea she was a spy?' He said 'I had no idea she was a spy' and I really believe him," Trump told reporters.
Here is what we know about the affair and why it matters.
Trump says FBI investigating Nvidia boss's affair with alleged Chinese spy
Zoe Kleinman: Nvidia CEO's affair will cause ripples across US and beyond
Jensen Huang (left) and Alice Huang - also known as Huang Le - pictured at an event
US officials believed that Alice Huang had been recruited to spy by China's top intelligence agency, the New York Times reported , external . Her current whereabouts are unknown.
Alice Huang, who is of no relation to Jensen Huang, was a top executive at Singapore-based data centre firm Megaspeed between March and November 2023. The firm had been suspected of helping divert Nvidia chips to China, a concern that Nvidia maintains was investigated and debunked.
However, the BBC understands Megaspeed is under investigation by the Singapore government regarding previous allegations that the company was circumventing US sanctions on the export of Nvidia's high-end chips. The BBC has contacted Megaspeed for comment.
The company told the New York Times last month its current leadership took the allegations seriously and had appointed external legal advisers to conduct an internal investigation.
Surveillance reportedly revealed communications between Alice Huang and an American citizen, who was subsequently identified as Jensen Huang through a process known as "unmasking".
It remains unclear what, if any, intelligence Alice Huang – who is also known as Huang Le – allegedly gathered and passed to Beijing. She did not respond to the paper's request for comment.
When the BBC asked Nvidia if the company was aware of intelligence concerns, the company said it was not.
"We trust that if we were the target of a genuine threat, the US government would have notified us," an Nvidia spokesperson told the BBC.
China has rejected the spying allegations.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters on Monday at a regular daily press briefing: "We have already responded to this. The allegations about Chinese spies are entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China."
The New York Times reported in late October that Trump had been briefed last year on intelligence alleging Alice Huang was spying on China's behalf.
Asked by reporters on Sunday whether he wished he had "acted on the intelligence", Trump responded: "No, I don't think so. I think he's an honourable guy."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, refused to comment when asked about Huang. Last spring, the secretary of state reportedly oversaw the drafting of a memo that warned the Trump administration about Huang's relationship with the Chinese businesswoman, according to the New York Times.
Nvidia shares slide as US tech giant investigates CEO's affair with suspected Chinese spy
Why Trump is all-in on AI despite the warnings
What is AI, how does it work and why are some people concerned about it?
Nvidia is at the heart of US and China's AI race , which is why the billionaire's affair has sparked national security fears among American lawmakers.
Trump has said "whoever wins AI wins", and the fear is that if China gains the upper hand in AI, it will supercharge the country's military and surveillance capabilities.
The US advantage is in large part because of US companies like Nvidia, working with producers like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which makes more than 90% of the world's most advanced chips.
Since 2022, the US has used various export controls to keep the top tech out of China, which it says helps retain America's competitive edge and protects its national security.
This means companies like Nvidia have been largely locked out of the world's most lucrative market, with Huang once saying that Nvidia's share of the Chinese market had gone from around 95% to effectively zero.
Huang has engaged in shuttle diplomacy between Washington and Beijing, hoping to find a US-approved way back in, and shaping US policy on China along the way.
Sunday's revelations may explain why Huang has failed to bring home the biggest prize of all to Nvidia: the Trump administration's blessing to sell all but its most advanced chips to China .
Huang has soared to international importance with his company
Born in Taiwan in 1963, Huang was nine years old when his family moved to the West Coast of the US. He graduated as an electrical engineer from Oregon State University, and then with a master's degree in the same field from Stanford University.
Huang then worked at US chip firm AMD before co-founding Nvidia. Known as "Daddy Huang" in Taiwan and once lauded as the "Taylor Swift of tech" , he has a reputation as a workaholic and perfectionist with incredibly high standards for his staff.
He has an estimated fortune of $155bn (£115bn), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
"Jensen Huang is a tech visionary of the likes of Steve Jobs," Stephen Witt, the author of Thinking Machine, a biography on Huang, told the BBC, adding that he was responsible for creating AI hardware as we know it today.
Huang has a famously close relationship with Trump. At the recent AI summit at the White House, where 42 tech executives were present, the president was flanked by Elon Musk and Huang.
Trump said he had not spoken to the Nvidia boss since news of the investigation emerged.
"I just know he's a fine person, but you never know what's going on," Trump told reporters, adding that he had "done an amazing job for our country".
There is no clear successor for Huang at Nvidia
Founded by Huang and fellow electrical engineers Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem in 1993, the company was originally known for chips that process graphics, particularly for computer games.
Eventually it changed focus to AI, a field it now dominates .
Huang rescued Nvidia from bankruptcy on more than one occasion, and took risks on AI a long time before the rest of the world did, effectively building the infrastructure from scratch.
"Today when we think of that, we think of these giant data centres - none of that existed. There were no customers for the stuff he was building. In fact his first customer was Open AI at the time they had 30 people - he actually gave it to them, he donated it to them," Witt told the BBC.
Every notable tech company building AI tools and infrastructure, including Amazon, Meta, Google, and Microsoft, now use Nvidia chips.
Currently worth $4.5tn (£3.4tn), Nvidia is one of the most valuable companies ever.
For now, the firm's board appears to have little appetite for removing Huang, saying in a statement on Sunday that they have "confidence in Jensen and his leadership team".
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President Trump defended Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang after the company's board announced it was investigating Huang's relationship with an alleged Chinese spy. NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell and Brian Cheung discuss the national security implications of Huang's affair considering his role in the global growth of AI and his vicinity to President Trump.
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President Donald Trump said he spoke to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang earlier Monday after Nvidia revealed late Sunday that it had launched an investigation into his extramarital affair with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy.
Trump called Huang “to see if he’s feeling all right,” he said at an impromptu news briefing.
“He had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy,” Trump said of Huang, adding, “I really believe him.”
“We’ll look into it,” Trump said. “I know the FBI is looking into it, in terms of something else, and I think that he’ll be in good shape.”
The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into Megaspeed, the Singaporean company suspected of smuggling Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips into China, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Megaspeed is the data center company at the heart of the controversy involving Huang, who is said to have had a relationship with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, the woman whom U.S. intelligence officials now believe to be a Chinese spy. Jensen Huang and Alice Huang are not related.
The investigation is focused on allegations that Megaspeed played a role in shipping Nvidia AI computer chips to customers in China, which would violate strict U.S. export controls on those chips.
In addition to Megaspeed, the probe is looking at people tied to the company, like Alice Huang, and at whether China recruited her to spy and assist the smuggling of the AI chips into China.
The investigation is being led by the department’s National Security Division, in conjunction with the FBI and the Bureau of Industry and Security, the investigative division of the Commerce Department.
On Sunday, the Nvidia board announced it was “initiating an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.”
At the same time, Jensen Huang announced that he had been “unfaithful to my wife,” while also apologizing to Nvidia employees.
“I was amazed, because I view him as a very high-quality person,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “He’s an amazing guy. I hope there’s no problem.”
Trump indicated for the second time in as many days that he wanted Huang to remain the leader of Nvidia, the second-largest public company in the world. “I hope there’s no problem. If there is a problem, we’ll let you know about it. But I hope there’s no problem.”
Nvidia spokespeople did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday following Trump’s remarks. Nvidia previously said Huang would remain CEO, despite the revelations.
The Justice Department also declined to comment on the matter.
Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday that “the so-called Chinese spy allegation is unsubstantiated. It is nothing but smears against China.”
Shares of Nvidia closed down 4.2% in Monday’s trading, bucking overall market momentum. The stock was the worst performer company in the Dow and the Nasdaq.
The news surrounding Nvidia and Huang has also drawn intense congressional scrutiny.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., called Monday for “a full briefing” on the issues engulfing Nvidia. Jeffries is likely to be elected the next speaker of the House in January.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Jim Banks, R-Ind., also said in a joint statement that Congress should “take decisive action” regarding oversight of AI-linked companies.
The news from Nvidia and Huang “makes these national security concerns even more urgent and raises important questions NVIDIA must answer,” Warren and Banks wrote.
Steve Kopack is a senior reporter at NBC News covering business and the economy.
Michael Kosnar is the Justice Department Producer for NBC News.
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Hundreds of billions of dollars have been wiped off the value of Nvidia after the US chipmaker announced an independent investigation would be carried out into its chief executive's affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
The tech firm saw its shares fall by about 4% by close of trade on Monday after Jensen Huang admitted having an extramarital affair.
Nvidia's probe came after reports that the US believed the Nvidia boss had been targeted in an espionage campaign by China.
However, China has rejected the claims, with its foreign ministry saying allegations about Chinese spies were "entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China".
Nvidia said it had no reason to believe the company's secrets or national security were compromised, but a statement by the firm's board of directors said it would begin an investigation in "light of recent reporting that founder and chief executive Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort".
US intelligence officials believe Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, was a spy for Beijing, according to a New York Times report , external .
The report said Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to top officials in Washington last spring warning that the Nvidia boss was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy.
Alice Huang was managing director of Singaporean company Megaspeed, which has had dealings with Nvidia.
Jensen Huang admitted he was "unfaithful" to his wife and apologised for hurting her and their children. He added he was "committed to protecting Nvidia and supporting America's national security" and would cooperate with the investigation.
The Nvidia co-founder has also been requested to appear for a joint closed-door briefing for several Congressional committees next week.
Members of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee last week asked Jensen Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on his interactions with Alice Huang, as well as Nvidia's security protocols around espionage.
"Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC's [China's] access to sensitive US technology and information," congressmen Brian Mast, John Moolenaar, and Rick Crawford wrote in a letter.
"It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which US national security has been placed at risk."
After Nvidia's investigation was announced, other big tech bosses, including Elon Musk, came out in support of Jensen Huang to continue leading the firm.
US President Donald Trump said the Nvidia boss was an "honourable guy".
However, the news sparked a sell-off in Nvidia's shares, with about $250bn (£190bn) wiped of the company's market value.
While Nvidia shares fell, the US stock market opened the week on a positive note after last week's turmoil, with Nvidia's rival chipmakers benefiting.
But analysts suggested the hit to the company would be short-lived. Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist at Crossmark Global Investments said investors would not abandon Nvidia, because the chipmaker was so important to the AI industry.
"Nvidia is the core of this AI trade, and without them, all these other pieces start to fall apart because the financing's not there," she told the BBC.
Jensen Huang co-founded Nvidia, which is central to making the hardware for emerging AI technologies, with two other engineers in 1993.
Its chips were initially designed for gaming, but he decided to turn its focus on AI development, turning it into the world's second most valuable company.
A key concern for investors going forward is what would happen to Nvidia if Jensen Huang was removed from the company, as Fernandez said there was "no natural successor" to the chief executive.
Jensen Huang, unlike other founders in the tech industry, is vulnerable to any move by Nvidia's board of directors to oust him.
He owns only around 3.5% of the company, and Nvidia operates on a single class voting structure, meaning his stake would not be enough to act as a veto power over any board decision.
By contrast, many tech founders who lead their companies, including Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, hold significant percentages of multiple types of stock in their companies.
Fernandez said she does not believe the board will remove Jensen Huang as chief executive, unless there is glaring evidence of wrongdoing related to national security or intellectual property, "but I bet they start bringing someone up as his number two, to have there for the future."
The modest fall in its shares mean investors believe it is unlikely he will step down or be removed as chief executive, but that the outcome of the investigation will be closely watched.
Even people who do not directly own shares in Nvidia can be affected by rises and falls in its value. Pensions or savings invested in pots which have stakes in the company through index tracking funds can be impacted, for example.
What we know so far about Jensen Huang's affair with suspected Chinese spy
Nvidia chips have been a major focus of the AI race between the US and China and the White House has previously imposed controls on where its advanced products can be sold.
The H200, Nvidia's second most advanced semiconductor, had previously been restricted by Washington over concerns that it would give China's technology industry an edge over the US.
But Jensen Huang has been against restricting the sale of Nvidia's chips to China, arguing that it would be better for the global rollout of AI to be powered by US technology.
In January, the Trump administration said it would allow the company to sell its H200 chips to Chinese customers under certain conditions.
Additional reporter by Samira Hussain, North America business correspondent.
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AI powerhouse Nvidia is investigating its CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang after he admitted to having an affair with a woman U.S. intelligence officials are calling a Chinese spy. President Donald Trump defended Huang, who is a close ally and advisor to the president, calling him a "fine person" who's "done an amazing job for our country." NBC's Brian Cheung reports for TODAY. Nov. 9, 2026
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US tech giant Nvidia has opened an independent investigation following reports its boss Jensen Huang had a relationship with businesswoman Alice Huang, a suspected Chinese spy.
Huang has been in charge of the tech giant for 30 years, and is a popular public figure - but will this scandal hurt his reputation? The BBC’s Steve Lai explains everything you need to know.
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