Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang apologized to his wife and children as the board investigates claims that a Chinese intelligence operation targeted him.
“I was unfaithful to my wife.” That was how Jensen Huang, the billionaire who co-founded Nvidia, explained himself to employees on Sunday. He gave no name and offered no excuse. By the time he sent the message, three congressional committee chairs had already put a name in writing. They want to ask him behind closed doors about his dealings with Alice Huang, a former tech executive suspected of gathering intelligence for Beijing.
Huang’s November 8 message moved between the people he answers to at work and the people waiting for him at home. He told shareholders and colleagues he would work to regain their confidence. For his wife and children, he had a more personal request: “My family bears no responsibility for my choices. I do. Please give them privacy.”
Why Congress Wants to Know About Alice Huang
Alice Huang, who is unrelated to the Nvidia chief, was an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company. U.S. intelligence officials concluded that she had worked on Beijing’s behalf. The question for Congress is what access she may have gained through the man running the company that supplies the chips behind much of the AI boom.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun dismissed the spying allegation as “purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China.” Jensen Huang’s own account goes only as far as acknowledging his infidelity. He did not identify Alice Huang as his partner or say that he had shared sensitive information with her.
Nvidia’s board says it has no reason to believe company secrets or U.S. national security were compromised. Independent directors have enlisted outside lawyers to investigate, and Huang has pledged to cooperate while retaining the board’s backing as CEO.
Washington has given him a more immediate deadline. The chairs of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, and China committees want him to explain both his contact with Alice Huang and how Nvidia protects itself against espionage. They proposed November 18 for the private briefing and asked him to accept or offer another date by November 11.