Nvidia launches an investigation: the tech giant’s boss is alleged to have had an affair with a Chinese spy

Nvidia could well lose tens of billions of dollars over this affair. The company has just launched an internal investigation after the discovery that its leader Jensen Huang had an extramarital affair.But the real problem lies in the identity of the woman with whom he had an affair: she is supposedly a spy in the service of China.

A spy was allegedly sent by China to seduce Nvidia’s CEO

Everything began on October 29, when the New York Times revealed that Alice Huang, an executive at the Singaporean company Megaspeed, had been recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security. This Chinese businesswoman may have clandestinely smuggled Nvidia AI chips into China, as other Southeast Asian companies have been accused of doing. Indeed, Nvidia’s most powerful chips are subject to a U.S. embargo on China. According to the newspaper, the American authorities are convinced that she really is an agent of the Chinese intelligence services.

Alice Huang is also said to have had an affair with Jensen Huang, as revealed by the Financial Times on November 6. President Donald Trump is said to have been informed of these findings but to have disregarded them, not wishing to disrupt the American company’s immense growth or damage its trade relations with China.

Nvidia launches an investigation into Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair

On November 8, Jensen Huang himself emailed his employees; it was a press release republished by Nvidia. He admits it: “I was unfaithful to my wife.[…] Nothing justifies what I did. » The man apologizes to his family and his company: « I was not up to this responsibility. » Since then, numerous photos and videos showing Huang with this woman have circulated on social media.

Nvidia’s board of directors has launched an investigation, as reported by Bloomberg. The aim is to determine whether its leader, Jensen Huang, was the target of an espionage mission. The latter says he wants to fully cooperate in order to « protect Nvidia » and « support U.S. national security. » The United States is also taking an interest: Democratic Senator Chris Coons, who will chair a foreign affairs committee in January, wants to open an investigation into the matter.

What about the financial consequences for Nvidia, which needs ever more funding to invest in chip manufacturing? The company is due to publish its results shortly and has reached a market capitalization of nearly $5.8 trillion. A sum that could evaporate: in the past month, it has already lost 18.6%, including 10% in the last five days. Some believe the artificial intelligence bubble has already burst: this event, combined with the controversy surrounding Jensen Huang, could therefore cost Nvidia dearly.

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Source: Bloomberg