Nvidia’s board of directors has decided to investigate whether the company’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, has been targeted by foreign espionage.
The move came after Huang admitted that he had had an affair with a Chinese woman and had been unfaithful to his wife.
Të lidhura
None found
In a statement released today, the board announced the creation of a committee made up of independent members. The committee will work with outside legal advisers and oversee the investigation.
The investigation will also focus on reports that Nvidia’s chief executive is “being targeted by foreign intelligence agencies,” according to the wording used by the company.
“The board has no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia’s secrets have been compromised, but the investigation will examine all available information,” the statement said.
In a memo sent to employees, Huang expressed “deep regret” over the affair. “I have been unfaithful to my wife. My actions have hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did,” he said.
Huang, 63, said he would fully cooperate with the investigation and continue leading the company until it is completed.
According to Bloomberg, the CEO’s statement was published after several reports said he had been targeted by Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed International. The U.S. government suspects that she was recruited by a Chinese espionage agency. Initially, Huang had described his relationship with her as “normal.”
Nvidia, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, has not made public a succession plan for Huang and does not have an obvious replacement for him. He has repeatedly said that he intends to remain in office for decades, while building around himself an informal organizational structure that avoids traditional hierarchy. Under this model, his direct subordinates implement his decisions quickly.
According to Huang, this organizational approach enables Nvidia to adapt to the rapid pace of technological change and maintain flexibility. However, it has also created a situation in which there is no ready successor to take on the chief executive’s demanding agenda.
Nvidia is considered the most valuable company in history. In October, it reached a valuation of $5.8 trillion, but it has since fallen below the $5 trillion mark, partly because of questions about the long-term sustainability of the artificial intelligence industry.
Alice Huang’s background
There is limited information about Alice Huang’s background, and in some cases the details do not match.
As reported by The New York Times, it is not known exactly when Nvidia’s CEO and the head of Megaspeed first met. However, she reportedly posted photographs on social media showing herself together with Huang.
Alice Huang has presented herself as the CEO of Megaspeed, a company based in Singapore. For the first eight months, she was listed in the company’s documents as its general manager, before her name was removed from them. She reportedly previously worked as a television journalist in China, but The New York Times was unable to verify this information.
She later worked at major Chinese banks and joined the Shanghai-based fund Hexi Capital. The fund has invested in various companies linked to the semiconductor and artificial intelligence sectors.
Technology investors familiar with the company said that Huang and her associates boasted of their connections to Nvidia’s chief executive. According to them, these connections were used to secure capital and promote a rapidly expanding network of businesses that have invested alongside the Chinese government in data centers across China.
Megaspeed reportedly purchased 136,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia. Inspectors found the equipment in the company’s servers. It is not known what happened to the remaining cards; if the estimates are accurate, they may have ended up in China.
Megaspeed is also suspected of having served as a front company for Beijing, with the aim of obtaining technology that the United States has banned from being exported to China.
