Nvidia Board Investigation: Directors Open an Inquiry Into Reports Jensen Huang Was Targeted, as Congress Seeks a Briefing
Nvidia's board said Sunday it has opened an independent investigation, run by independent directors with outside counsel, into reports that founder and CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort — and said it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised. Three House committee chairs have asked Huang to sit for a closed-door briefing on November 18, with an answer due by November 11.
The world's most valuable chipmaker now has an investigation of its own chief executive on its books. Nvidia's board of directors announced on November 8 that it is initiating an independent investigation into recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, the company said in its statement. A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel, will oversee the review. The board said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised," said U.S. national and economic security takes priority over the interests of Nvidia and its shareholders, and expressed confidence in Huang, who remains chief executive. It named neither the committee's members nor its counsel, and set no completion date.
The reporting underneath the inquiry, as the accounts read this run lay it out, concerns Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed International, whom U.S. intelligence assessments cited by the New York Times suspect was recruited to seek information and potentially encourage access to Nvidia's advanced chips in China. In a separate message published by Nvidia on November 8, Huang acknowledged marital infidelity, apologized to his family and colleagues, said he would cooperate with the investigation and asked that his family's privacy be respected. The desk states the distinction the sources themselves draw: the admission establishes infidelity; it does not establish espionage, a security breach, or that any secret reached Beijing — and the public record read this run contains no finding that information was compromised.
Congress moved first, and its clock is the nearer one. In a November 4 letter, three Republican House committee chairs — Brian Mast of Foreign Affairs, John Moolenaar of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, and Rick Crawford of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence — asked Huang to take part in a joint closed-door briefing on November 18 about his interactions with Alice Huang and Nvidia's protections against foreign espionage, and asked him to accept that date or propose an alternative by November 11. The request does not establish that Huang has agreed to appear. Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware has also publicly called for a congressional investigation, promising Congress will investigate and get answers. The board's review lands eight days before Nvidia's third-quarter results on November 17 — and every deadline in this story, November 11, 17 and 18, is a date the company and the committees have set in public, not a finding.
