Nvidia hires major US law firm to investigate CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with alleged Chinese spy

Nvidia has hired one of the foremost law firms in the United States to lead an investigation into its co-founder and chief executive, Jensen Huang, after he admitted to an extramarital relationship with a business executive who US authorities claim to be a Chinese intelligence asset.

The law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is known in corporate America for advising executives on how to navigate complex challenges, said a New York Times report on Tuesday.

Huang has admitted to having a romantic relationship outside of his marriage. The woman, Alice Huang, is alleged to be a spy for Beijing.

The New York law firm’s attorney Joon Kim would lead “a thorough and independent investigation” even as the FBI is conducting its own probe.

Joon Kim is a former US Attorney for New York’s Southern District and has spent several years working as a government attorney, focusing on fraud and other criminal acts.

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Nvidia is widely considered one of the most important companies behind the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, given it is the sole manufacturer of a computer chip used in AI tools. Nvidia chips have become a matter of national security for the US, which aims to win the AI race.

The company’s share price has fallen almost to a yearly low, with $500 billion wiped of its stock market value since Friday.

Alice Huang, who is also known as Huang Le and is not related to Jensen Huang, was an executive at Singaporean company Megaspeed, which has been a customer of Nvidia. Megaspeed had been suspected of helping divert Nvidia chips to China.

Nvidia has maintained that the US government did not inform it that Megaspeed posed an intelligence concern.

According to the New York Times, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to top officials in Washington earlier this year warning that Jensen Huang was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had spoken to Jensen Huang, who had said he had “no idea she was a spy.”

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The spying charges have drawn political attention, as Congressional leaders of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs have asked Huang to appear next week for a closed-door briefing.

The committee has the authority to subpoena Huang, effectively forcing him to appear before it if deemed necessary.

Nvidia’s board said on Sunday that it had no reason to believe the company’s secrets or national security were compromised.

It added that a committee of independent directors would oversee the probe.

The Nvidia investigation will likely be treated as urgent, according to sources familiar with the matter, as Jensen Huang’s public image is tightly intertwined with the company.

A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment on Tuesday when asked if Jensen Huang had retained any of his own legal representation amid the company investigation and the separate one launched by the FBI.

Nvidia announced the investigation on Sunday, saying that it had “no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised.”

It said Huang “fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it.”