CEO Jensen Huang admits affair as Nvidia probes possible Chinese espionage

Huang has repeatedly lobbied Trump to adopt a more permissive approach to shipping Nvidia’s AI chips to China, after the company was entirely cut off from the critical market by new export controls in 2025. The resulting deal—with Trump permitting the export of Nvidia’s older-generation H200 chips to China, with the US government taking a cut of sales—had a minimal impact on the Silicon Valley company’s sales, as Beijing pushed back against its technology. But it further angered China hawks in the US administration. The US government had already been investigating Megaspeed over concerns that it was smuggling Nvidia chips into China. Nvidia on Sunday said a committee of independent directors, helped by external lawyers, would oversee the investigation. “The board prioritizes US national and economic security, which is paramount to the interests of Nvidia and its shareholders,” the company said. “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.” Huang, who co-founded Nvidia as a video-game graphics card company in 1993, is one of the longest-serving founder-CEOs in Silicon Valley. More than most technology groups, Nvidia’s success is tethered to that of its CEO. Huang leads a close and loyal core team of about half a dozen executives, acting as its chief salesman on the international stage while directly managing dozens of direct reports who keep the company running. He has credited this “flat” organizational structure for the speed at which the company operates, helping it to stay ahead of rivals in the AI chip market and increasing its market valuation from roughly $1 trillion in 2023 to $4.5 trillion today. Elon Musk, a close ally of Huang, was among the first to offer support, agreeing with a social media post that he was “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of this generation” and “irreplaceable for America’s AI leadership.” But John Moolenaar, the Republican head of the House China committee who, with other lawmakers, has requested Huang to testify before Congress, said: “It is vital that Jensen Huang address our national security concerns in Congress related to China’s access to sensitive technology and information.” © 2026 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.