Nvidia said on Sunday that it was opening an investigation into Jensen Huang, its chief executive and co-founder, after he acknowledged to the company’s board that he had been intimate with a business executive who U.S. intelligence determined to be a Chinese spy. Huang’s relationship with the woman, who is named Alice Huang, became a U.S. government concern after surveillance revealed that she was feeding information directly to Beijing. The revelation raised troubling possibilities because Mr.
Huang is one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump. Huang, 63, will continue to lead the company during the investigation, the board said. As a co-founder, he has set up a unique structure at Nvidia where he dictates all aspects of its business while overseeing some 60 people who directly report to him.
Huang had developed a close relationship with a Chinese citizen and chip buyer, who U.S. officials concluded was gathering intelligence for Beijing. Huang or Huang Le, who worked in China as a TV reporter before becoming a top executive at a Singapore-based data center company that had become one of Nvidia’s biggest customers in Southeast Asia. It bought $4.8 billion in chips over the past two years.
Nvidia has continued doing business with Ms. Huang’s company, Megaspeed, even after The Times reported last year that the Commerce Department was investigating whether the company was helping China smuggle restricted A.I. chips. (Mr.
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