Nvidia said Sunday its board of directors opened an independent investigation after founder and chief executive Jensen Huang told employees he had been unfaithful to his wife, following news reports that U.S. officials believed a Chinese businesswoman with whom he had a relationship was working for Beijing^1,2,4.

Huang's Nov. 8 staff email, posted on Nvidia's newsroom, said, "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children"¹. He said he supported the board inquiry, would cooperate fully and asked for privacy for his family¹.

The board said a committee of independent directors, assisted by outside counsel, would oversee the review of reports that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort^4,5. Directors said they had no reason to believe U.S. national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised and expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team^4,5.

Outlets identified the woman as Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, an executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer^2,4,5. TechCrunch said a memo circulating among U.S. policymakers earlier this year claimed she had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to spy on Nvidia's chief executive⁴. The BBC said her whereabouts are unknown and that it remains unclear what information, if any, was passed to Beijing².

The Verge reported Megaspeed is the subject of a U.S. Commerce Department investigation into whether it was smuggling AI chips to China⁵. The BBC said it understands Singapore is examining prior claims that the company circumvented U.S. export rules, and that Nvidia maintains earlier diversion concerns were investigated and debunked². Nvidia told the BBC it was not aware of intelligence concerns and would expect the U.S. government to notify it of a genuine threat². TechCrunch said Nvidia had previously described Huang's interactions with Alice Huang as not unusual and said the company does not share classified information with customers⁴.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Monday called the spy narrative unsubstantiated, CNBC reported, citing Reuters³. Al Jazeera described the episode as placing Huang at the center of a U.S.-China spy scandal⁸.

Nvidia shares fell about 5% in premarket trading Monday as investors weighed leadership risk around Huang, CNBC reported³. President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday he thought Huang was honorable, had done an amazing job for the country and that he had not spoken to the chief executive about the investigation³.

Separately, the chairs of the House select committee on China, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Intelligence Committee asked Huang to appear at a joint closed-door briefing on Nov. 18, Ars Technica and Global News reported^6,7. Nvidia is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Nov. 17³. What the board inquiry finds, and whether any classified or commercially sensitive information changed hands, has not been established on the public record^2,4,5.