Questions in Washington over Nvidia chief Jensen Huang's relationship amid China intelligence allegations
United States lawmakers are pushing for answers from Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang amid growing concern in Washington over whether an extramarital relationship compromised national security.
Huang, 63, has admitted to having extramarital relations during his time leading Nvidia, a major US tech firm. Media reports indicate the woman involved was Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based tech company Megaspeed who is accused of working for Chinese intelligence.
As the scandal continues to grip Washington, Republican leaders of three committees in the House of Representatives have asked Huang to appear at a closed-door briefing to testify about the relationship. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Brian Mast said he was prepared to subpoena Huang if he did not respond by the end of Wednesday.
According to The New York Times, US intelligence officials believe Alice Huang was recruited by Chinese intelligence to gather information about the Nvidia CEO and influence him to push for looser restrictions on chip sales to China.
In a statement on Sunday, Jensen Huang apologised to his family and Nvidia employees about the affair. His company also launched an independent investigation, saying it had no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised. Still, by Wednesday, media reports emerged that Nvidia was preparing to part ways with Huang over the controversy.
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking into the matter, but he has stood by Huang, calling him an honourable guy.
The pressure intensified on Tuesday when Republican Senator Kevin Cramer called for Huang to resign. Cramer told Politico that the potential for extortion was so tremendous, and Nvidia chips so sensitive, that he believed Huang had to go.
But Huang, who co-founded Nvidia more than 30 years ago, has shown no signs of heeding that call.
Despite the company's assurances, experts say the affair raises concerns about what information Alice Huang may have been privy to and what role the relationship may have played in the Nvidia CEO's decisions.
Nvidia's advanced chips power much of today's artificial intelligence, putting the company at the centre of the race for tech dominance between China and the US. Since 2022, Washington has restricted sales of some of the most advanced chips to China over concerns they could be used by the country's military or intelligence agencies.
Some experts say it is worth looking at how Alice Huang may have influenced decisions Nvidia made specifically about her former employer Megaspeed, which bought more than $4.8bn worth of Nvidia chips over about two years. Megaspeed has also been investigated over allegations it helped Chinese companies get access to restricted chips; Megaspeed denies the allegation.
Ryan Fedasiuk, a fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation who studies Chinese technology and intelligence activities, said the question was whether Nvidia took specific actions with respect to Megaspeed that it might not otherwise have done, possibly as a result of the personal relationship between the two executives.
In an analysis published by the Council on Foreign Relations, senior fellow Jessica Brandt pointed to information about how Nvidia designs its China-specific chips. She said information about its conversations with policymakers could help anticipate where controls and other policies are headed.
So far, however, there is no publicly available evidence that Alice Huang got access to sensitive information from Nvidia or influenced Jensen Huang's decisions. US intelligence also has not made public any evidence that Alice Huang was working for Chinese intelligence.
China has flatly denied the espionage allegations. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that the claim of so-called Chinese spies was completely groundless and nothing but a smear campaign against China.
