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Nvidia’s Board Opens Independent Inquiry Over Reports on Jensen Huang

Nvidia’s board said on November 8 that independent directors, helped by outside counsel, will investigate reports that CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. Huang apologised to staff for being unfaithful to his wif

AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked · 2026-11-09

Nvidia’s board of directors said on November 8, 2026 that it is starting an independent investigation, prompted by press reports that founder and chief executive Jensen Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort. On the same day the company posted to its newsroom an email Huang had sent to staff, in which he admitted being unfaithful to his wife, apologised to his family and to the company, and said he backs the board’s inquiry.

Both documents are brief. The board does not name the directors who will sit on the committee, the law firm that will advise them, a timetable, or the country behind the effort the reports describe.

A Committee of Independent Directors Will Run the Inquiry

According to the board, a committee made up of its independent directors will oversee the work, with help from outside counsel that it also calls independent. The board tied the review to U.S. national and economic security, which it described as paramount to Nvidia and to its shareholders.

The board said it has no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia’s secrets were compromised, while adding that its inquiry will look at all the information available. Huang, it said, fully supports the review and has promised to cooperate. The statement ends on a note of support for the chief executive:

“The Board has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team and will provide further updates as appropriate.”

NVIDIA Board of Directors

Huang’s Email to Employees

Nvidia published the email under the title “A Message to Our Company”. Most of it is personal. Huang wrote that his actions had hurt his wife and their children, that he has no excuse, and that he takes full responsibility and accepts the criticism that comes with it. He closed by saying his family bears no responsibility for his choices and asked that they be left in privacy.

To colleagues, the board, partners and shareholders, he wrote that they deserve better from him and that he had fallen short of his duty to serve them. He said he remains fully committed to Nvidia and will try to win back their confidence.

One paragraph of the email deals with security. Huang referred to national security concerns raised in news reports, said the board had opened an independent investigation, and wrote that he supports it and will cooperate fully. He also said he is committed to protecting Nvidia and to supporting America’s national security. The email takes up the infidelity and the security reports in separate paragraphs and does not draw a link between them.

What the Outlets Have Reported

The concerns go back to reporting published on October 29. That day Senator Elizabeth Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, said in a statement that, according to new reporting, a woman suspected of spying for China had regarded Huang as a “target”; her company, Megaspeed, is based in Singapore. AI.info reported the earlier claims. In a recent statement, NBC News says, Huang described his interactions with the executive this way: “Our relationship, our interactions, have been related to Megaspeed, and it was all completely normal and not unusual.”

NBC News reported on November 8 that two newspapers, the Financial Times and the New York Times, had described the executive, a Chinese citizen, as having been under surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies, which the reports said had concluded she was recruited to spy for China. Citing a person familiar with the matter, NBC News reported that U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded the executive was a Chinese spy who had a relationship with Huang. These are the outlets’ accounts, attributed to unnamed sources; Nvidia’s two statements do not describe the reports’ content.

China rejected the allegations. NBC News quoted Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun as saying on November 9 that the claim was “unsubstantiated” and “nothing but smears against China.”

Shares, the White House and the Company Line

Nvidia’s shares fell more than 4%, erasing almost $200 billion in value, NBC News reported, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose sharply that day. Speaking for the company, an Nvidia spokesperson told the network that Huang is “committed to continuing to lead NVIDIA as CEO without interruption.”

According to NBC News, President Donald Trump told reporters on November 8 that Huang is a “fine person” who should stay on as chief executive. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he could not comment on what he called an internal corporate matter, the network reported.

Pressure From Congress

The board’s move follows months of questions on Capitol Hill about Nvidia chips reaching China. In her October 29 statement, Warren recalled that in June she had asked Nvidia’s directors to look into whether the company was complying with American export controls, and said that Huang and the board “owe Congress answers.”

In the House, Republican leaders asked for a briefing before the board announced its inquiry, NBC News reported. Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said recent reports raise “significant national security concerns” about Beijing’s reach into sensitive American technology and information.

The board has promised further updates without setting a date. Nvidia’s next scheduled appearance before investors is the conference call on its results for the third quarter of fiscal 2027, set for Tuesday, November 17, at 2 p.m. Pacific time.