Nvidia's shares slide as chip giant probes CEO Jensen Huang over spy claims

Nvidia's board of directors has announced an independent investigation following reports that CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. According to SCMP Tech, the inquiry will be overseen by a committee of independent directors and outside legal counsel. While the board stated it has no reason to believe company secrets or U.S. national security were compromised, SiliconANGLE reports that the investigation follows Huang's admission that he had been "intimate" with a Singapore-based executive accused by U.S. officials of spying for China.

In a memo to employees published Sunday, Huang admitted to being unfaithful to his wife, stating, “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.” The Business Times - Companies & Markets notes that these admissions follow months of reports regarding Huang's relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.

SiliconANGLE identifies the individual as Alice Huang, the CEO of a Singapore-based data center company called Megaspeed, who is alleged by U.S. officials to be an asset of Chinese intelligence services.

In response to the allegations, the Republican-led foreign affairs and intelligence committee of the U.S. Congress has requested that Huang testify at a closed-door briefing regarding the company's security protocols against foreign adversary espionage, according to SiliconANGLE. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported that Huang has brought his children and other family members into Nvidia, a practice it described as unusually family-run for Silicon Valley.

Brief written by urgent.news from Techmeme, SCMP Tech, The Business Times - Companies & Markets, Daring Fireball, SiliconANGLE — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.