Nvidia’s directors have decided to look into the reports that Jensen Huang was singled out by a foreign spy operation. The company announced the move on 8 November: a group of its independent board members will run the probe, helped by outside lawyers who answer to them.
In the same announcement the board said nothing it has seen so far suggests US national security or Nvidia’s own secrets were put at risk. It still wants every piece of available information looked at. Huang is backing the review and has promised to cooperate, and the directors say they stand by him and his management team. They did not say when the committee will report, only that updates will come when appropriate.
The reports go back to late October, when US media said American officials suspected Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based cloud provider Megaspeed, of working as a Chinese intelligence asset while cultivating a close relationship with the Nvidia chief. Megaspeed had already been under scrutiny over whether it helped others get around US export controls on Nvidia’s AI chips. Nvidia’s spokesperson replied that Megaspeed is one of its regional cloud customers, that Huang meets many customers every year, and that customers do not get access to trade secrets or national security information. The spokesperson added that earlier diversion allegations were “thoroughly investigated and debunked” last year.
The board’s statement names neither Megaspeed nor Alice Huang. It also leaves open what the committee will examine first and whether its findings will ever be made public.
