NEW YORK: AI chip behemoth Nvidia was plunged into turmoil on Monday after CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged having an affair, with reports saying US officials believe the woman was spying for China.
Beijing denied the claim, but shares of the chipmaker tumbled after Nvidia’s board opened an inquiry into reports that Huang was ‘the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
Late last month, The New York Times reported that US intelligence officials determined thatAlice Huang, a Chinese executive linked to Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed, had been funnelling information to Beijing.
The executive, also known as Huang Le and no relation to 63-year-old Taiwanese-born Jensen Huang, developed a close relationship with him, the Times said.
‘I was unfaithful to my wife, Huang said in a message to company employees. ‘My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeplysorry.’ Jensen Huang is a central figure in the AI boom and a close informal adviser to US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly opposedregulatingtheindustry so as not to let China gain the upper hand. The Times said Alice Huang’s relationship with the Nvidia chief could have given her insights into Trump’s thinking around AI.
Foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a regular briefing that ‘the narrative of a so-called Chinese spy is entirely baseless vilification and smearing.’ AI is likely to come up when Trumpmeets President Xi Jinping later this month at a summit in China.
‘You never know’ Asked on Sunday whether Huang would join the president’s Asia trip, which includes the AsiaPacific summit in Shenzhen, Trump told reporters: ‘I don’t know but I’ll certainly take him.
Trump said Huang was ‘a fine person, but you never know what’s going on. I’m sure I hope everything’s fine. He’s done such an incredible job.’ Nvidia’s board said in a statement it had opened anindependent probe ‘in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.’ ‘While the board has no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, the board’s inquiry will examine all available information,’ it said.
China is in a race for tech dominance against the United States, which restricts the export to China of the most cutting-edge silicon chips.
Nvidia, a global leader in producing chips used to train and runAI models, is one of the world’s most valuable companies.
Megaspeed was under scrutiny for possibly steering Nvidia AI chips to China, the Times report said, citing unnamed sources briefed on the matter.
Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings about Huang’s relationship with the businesswoman roughly a year ago and chose not to act on the information, the Times report said. Trump said that he did not regret not acting on this intelligence, calling Huang ‘an honourable guy.’-AFP