Jensen Huang, 63, is an American entrepreneur born in Taiwan. He is one of the most powerful managers in the world: he is the co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, a US semiconductor technology giant, a company that produces the microchips used to train and operate artificial intelligence systems. He got into trouble because Nvidia’s board of directors opened an investigation into him after Huang himself reported to the board that he had cheated on his wife and had an intimate relationship with a company executive identified by US intelligence as an alleged Chinese spy. Dangerous relationships. Seduced and troubled.
Who is Alice Huang, the alleged Chinese spy
Huang’s connection to the woman, named Alice Huang, has become the subject of attention from the US government and the discovery has raised many concerns, given that Huang is an ally and a valued interlocutor of President Donald Trump in the technology sector, especially for decisions on trade relations with China. Alice Huang is a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that has bought nearly $5 billion worth of chips in the past two years, becoming one of Nvidia’s biggest customers in Southeast Asia. According to US intelligence assessments, the Chinese businesswoman passed information to the Beijing government, exploiting her relationship with Jensen Huang.
Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, was recruited by the Chinese Ministry of State Security to approach the founder of Nvidia and collect information about him and the company, according to a reconstruction by the New York Times. The US authorities began monitoring her more than a year ago: in some interceptions they had identified communications with a US citizen who would later be identified as Jensen Huang. The US intelligence agents who had examined that information were convinced that there was a romantic relationship between the two.
“I cheated on my wife, I’m deeply sorry”
On Sunday, November 8, Jensen Huang sent a letter to Nvidia employees in which he admitted to having been unfaithful to his wife and apologized to her, his children and the people who work at the company. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no justification for what I did. I am deeply sorry,” he wrote. He added that he takes full responsibility for his actions and hopes that over time he will be able to regain the family’s trust. He then apologized to Nvidia’s employees, board of directors, partners and shareholders, saying he had failed in his responsibilities.
Nvidia reported that while the board has no reason to believe that U.S. national security or Nvidia’s corporate secrets have been compromised, the internal investigation will examine all available information. Huang fully supports this verification and is committed to collaborating, the US semiconductor giant clarified.
Congress and Trump
Meanwhile, some members of the Republican Party in the US House of Representatives have asked Jensen Huang to report to Congress by the end of the month, to clarify his close relationship with the Chinese businesswoman who allegedly transmitted information to Beijing. Trump intervened in the case: he defended Huang, saying that perhaps he will have an explanation for what happened, and added that he would gladly take him with him on the trip to China scheduled for the following week.