Nvidia, the world's most valuable public company, has since the weekend been at the center of one of the most unusual affairs the tech industry has seen. On Sunday, CEO and founder Jensen Huang sent a letter to employees admitting to an extramarital affair. '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 is fully committed to Nvidia. He did not name the woman. The same day, the board announced an independent investigation.
The affair itself would not have made these headlines without the context. According to reports in US media, including NBC, US intelligence officials believe the woman, Alice Huang (Huang Le), who is not related to the CEO, is a Chinese intelligence asset. According to the reports, she founded Megaspeed in 2023, a Singapore cloud company that was one of Nvidia's large customers in Southeast Asia, and held a senior role there. The New York Times reported a close relationship between the two as early as October.
Megaspeed is the heart of the matter. US Commerce Department investigators suspected the company diverted advanced Nvidia AI chips to China in violation of US export restrictions. According to a Bloomberg report, large gaps were found between the number of chips the company imported and what was found in its data centers. Megaspeed denies smuggling chips. Nvidia says earlier reviews found no violations, that it knows where every deployed processor is and that the company has no Chinese shareholders. No illegal diversion of chips has been publicly proven.
On Monday came the most troubling report. According to The New York Times, the Commerce Department halted its investigation of Megaspeed after Nvidia's general counsel contacted the investigators running it. According to the report, the case was moved to the Justice Department, where a criminal investigation is under way. Nvidia said such contacts are 'not unusual or unexpected.' This is the point where the affair moves from a CEO's private life to a public question: whether a private company influenced a federal investigation involving one of its customers.
The board appointed a committee of independent directors, working with outside counsel, to examine reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. Its statement said the board has 'no reason to believe' national security or Nvidia's secrets were compromised, and expressed confidence in Huang's leadership. Huang, according to the statement, supports the review and will cooperate with it.
The market reacted quickly. Nvidia shares fell 4.3% on Monday to close at $178.67, wiping almost $200 billion off its market value, on a day when other tech stocks actually rose. The same day, a class action was filed against the company and Huang. Most analysts, according to reports, do not expect Huang to leave his post.
In Washington the affair is already political. Three House committee chairs, Brian Mast, John Moolenaar and Rick Crawford, asked Huang to explain his relationship with a Megaspeed executive and Nvidia's safeguards against espionage, requesting an answer by November 11. They proposed a briefing on the 18th. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said 'clearly Congress needs more information,' and Senator Elizabeth Warren said Huang and the board 'owe Congress answers.' President Trump, whom Huang is seen as an ally of, defended him, calling him 'an honorable guy.'
Why does it matter to Israel? Nvidia is one of the largest employers in Israeli tech, with a development center built in part on the Mellanox acquisition that keeps growing. Any leadership change, and any tightening of export restrictions to China the affair may bring, will affect the company and its thousands of employees here, much of whose pay comes in stock. Next week Nvidia is expected to report quarterly results, and for the first time in a long while, the questions on the investor call will not be only about processors.
