Nvidia's board of directors said on Sunday, November 8, that it has launched an independent investigation into reports that its founder and chief executive, Jensen Huang, was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent legal counsel, will run the review. The board said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised."
On the same day, Huang told Nvidia employees in an email that he had an affair with the woman at the centre of those reports. "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did," he wrote, adding that he takes full responsibility and will cooperate fully with the investigation. A Nvidia spokesperson said Huang remains committed to leading the company without interruption.
The woman is Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a Chinese citizen and former managing director of Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based data-centre company that bought more than $4.8 billion worth of Nvidia chips over the past two years. She is not related to Jensen Huang. The New York Times reported on October 29 that United States intelligence officials assessed that Alice Huang had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security to forge a romantic relationship with Jensen Huang and gather information about Nvidia, and that officials suspected she helped move advanced Nvidia chips into China. The Wall Street Journal reported a similar American assessment. The claims have not been publicly proven, and no charges have been brought against anyone.
The warning reached the top of the Trump administration months before the story became public. This spring, Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the drafting of a highly classified memo warning senior Trump administration officials about Jensen Huang's close relationship with Alice Huang, according to the Times, citing people briefed on the matter. The memo, based on classified intelligence gathered through electronic surveillance of Alice Huang, was circulated to officials holding high-level security clearances ahead of President Donald Trump's trip to China in May. The Times also reported that Trump had been briefed about intelligence surveillance involving Alice Huang roughly a year earlier. The White House, the State Department and the CIA declined to comment to the Times.
Huang was initially left off the list of business and technology executives invited to accompany Trump on the May visit to China. Trump personally asked him to join the trip, inviting him to meet Air Force One during a stop in Alaska, and later wrote on Truth Social praising "the Great Jensen Huang" among the tech leaders travelling with him to China to meet President Xi Jinping.
Asked by reporters on Sunday about the allegations, Trump defended the Nvidia chief. "I think he's an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it and you have to hear it... He's done an amazing job for our country," Trump said, adding that he had not heard Huang had done anything wrong and that he would "certainly take" Huang with him on his upcoming Asia trip.
The fallout continued on Monday. The Republican chairs of three House committees have invited Huang to a closed-door briefing on November 18 about Nvidia's protections against foreign espionage, and Senator Chris Coons has pledged a Senate inquiry. Megaspeed is separately part of a United States Commerce Department investigation into whether advanced AI chips were diverted to China. Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said on October 31 that its authorities had conducted no separate investigation into Alice Huang's alleged intelligence ties, while Singapore police confirmed an ongoing investigation into Megaspeed. China has rejected the reporting: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called the accusations smears against China. Nvidia had previously described Huang's contacts with Alice Huang as routine meetings with a customer, saying customers do not receive classified business information.
— Update: Wednesday, November 11, 2026 —
Nvidia's board is preparing to oust Huang, the Wall Street Journal reported on November 11, and could meet as soon as Wednesday to discuss his future. The New York Times reported the same day that Huang had a second affair, with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care and his direct report, and that the two were filmed being affectionate at a hotel in San Jose in March 2026. The Times said it has not seen the video, and cited five people at the company. Nvidia's shares fell about 8 percent in after-hours trading after the reports. The Information reported on November 10 that headhunters are "likely" sounding out possible successors, naming AMD chief Lisa Su and Arm chief Rene Haas — that report is a column's speculation about what headhunters may do, not a confirmed search, and no successor has been named.
— Update: Wednesday, November 11, 2026 —
The three House committee chairs who invited Huang to a closed-door briefing on November 18 — Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast, China select committee Chairman John Moolenaar and Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford — sent Huang a letter asking him to confirm the date or propose another one by November 11. Mast told ABC News on November 10 that he was prepared to subpoena Huang, answering "absolutely" when asked if he would do so, and Moolenaar told Fox Business that Huang had until the end of the day on November 11 to respond. Mast's committee is preparing a subpoena if he does not. No subpoena has been issued, and there was no public response from Huang or Nvidia as of Wednesday evening. (Note: the letter is dated November 4 in some reports and November 5 in others.)
— Update: Wednesday, November 11, 2026 —
Elon Musk weighed in on Wednesday evening after the news site ZeroHedge posted "Elon please hire Jensen." Musk replied about two hours later: "That would be an honor." The exchange was two posts on X, not a job offer or an announcement — neither Huang nor Nvidia had responded on X as of Wednesday night. The board had met earlier on Wednesday, and an outside search firm has been hired, according to reports of the succession planning. Musk had already publicly backed Huang earlier in the week, agreeing with a post calling him "irreplaceable."
— Update: Thursday, November 12, 2026 —
China fired back on Thursday. At the Foreign Ministry's regular briefing, spokesperson Mao Ning said "China's scientific progress relies on independent innovation and open cooperation" and that "The U.S. should stop fabricating the so-called Chinese spy narrative as a pretext for imposing technology restrictions." Asked whether Alice Huang is now in Beijing, Mao said: "I am not aware of the situation you mentioned." Her remarks come ahead of next week's meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping. Guo Jiakun had already dismissed the claims on November 10, as reported earlier in this article.
— Update: Thursday, November 12, 2026 —
Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia's president, chief executive and a member of its board, effective immediately, the company announced on Thursday, ending his 33 years at the helm of the company he co-founded. Chief financial officer Colette Kress, who has held the finance role since September 2013, was named interim chief executive and will keep her CFO duties while the board searches for a permanent successor, considering both internal and external candidates. The board also named Harvey C. Jones as its first-ever chair. The company's announcement gave no reason for Huang's departure, and the independent board investigation has still disclosed no findings. Nvidia's shares fell nearly 10 percent after the announcement. The company said operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap will continue without interruption, and it will still report its third-quarter fiscal 2027 results on Tuesday, November 17.
— Update: Thursday, November 12, 2026 —
Companies tied to Alice Huang invested in DeepSeek during its second funding round and promised to supply Nvidia Blackwell chips banned from sale to China, The Information reported on Thursday. DeepSeek's second round was around $15.8 billion from nearly 30 investors. According to sources, DeepSeek employees pitched these companies to other investors as a substantial supplier of restricted Nvidia AI chips. The investments were structured through special purpose vehicles that kept the companies off DeepSeek's public shareholder list. The reporting ties into the wider scandal around Alice Huang — also known as Huang Le — the alleged Chinese intelligence asset at the center of the Nvidia case, her relationship with Jensen Huang, and her network of companies said to facilitate the flow of advanced Nvidia chips, including H100 and H200 models, toward Chinese entities. The intelligence and chip-diversion allegations against Alice Huang have not been proven, and no charges have been brought against anyone.
Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Thursday that Jensen Huang's resignation does not "absolve him, other executives, or the company as a whole of responsibility for putting our national security at risk or for any potential violations of our laws," and that Nvidia still owes Congress "answers about the company's compliance with U.S. export controls." Warren, the Senate Banking Committee's ranking member, takes over as the committee's chair in January when Democrats take control of the Senate, and she and Senator Chris Coons have already told the Trump administration to preserve all records tied to Nvidia's chip exports to China and the suspected Chinese intelligence operation around Huang. The board's independent investigation has still disclosed no findings.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has criticised the Trump administration's handling of the Nvidia affair, saying U.S. intelligence believed a woman close to Huang was recruited by China as a spy and that the government failed to warn him. Speaking on "High Stakes with HRC," the podcast she co-hosts with Kara Swisher, recorded on November 11, Clinton said the administration did not give Huang a "defensive briefing" about the alleged spy, arguing that when an American citizen is targeted by a foreign espionage operation, "you owe it to him to tell him." She said the administration instead "actively encouraged" the continued sale of Nvidia chips to China. Clinton also recounted that Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially left Huang off the plane for President Trump's China trip before Trump intervened, and compared the episode with her own experience of receiving a defensive briefing about Russian interference while running for president in 2016.
Clinton put it this way: "If your government knows that an American citizen is a target of an espionage operation, and you have reason to believe he does not know that he has fallen into what's called a honeypot operation, where a beautiful woman seduces the target, then you owe it to him to tell him." She added: "They didn't tell him. And now we know, not only did they not tell him, they actively encouraged the continuing sale of the Nvidia chips."
A Reuters exclusive published Thursday, November 12, 2026, at 19:28 UTC, by Max A. Cherney, Krystal Hu, Alexandra Alper and Deepa Seetharaman, reports that former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang had an intimate relationship with a second employee, according to two people familiar with the matter. Reuters is not naming the second employee, and attempts to reach the woman were not successful.
The revelation follows two other extramarital affairs that led to Huang's resignation on Thursday: his relationship with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive whom U.S. officials suspect of spying for China, and his relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care.
Huang admitted to an affair in a statement on Sunday, November 8, following reports of his relationship with Alice Huang, without referring to her by name.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference on Thursday, November 12, 2026, that the Justice Department has not yet reached a conclusion on whether Alice Huang was a Chinese spy. Asked whether the FBI is investigating reports that Huang worked for the Chinese government, Blanche answered: "Of course." Reuters reported Blanche's remarks on Thursday.
Alice Huang is the Chinese businesswoman who had an affair with former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang and whom United States officials suspect of spying for China, as reported earlier in this article. The claims against her have not been publicly proven, and no charges have been brought against anyone.