Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang initially called his interactions with a woman suspected of spying for China “completely normal and not unusual.”
Days later, he admitted to an affair.
When The New York Times first reported that US officials believed an executive at one of Nvidia’s customers, Megaspeed, had been recruited by the Chinese government to spy on the chip giant, Nvidia PR characterized his interactions with the executive — Alice Huang — as standard practice.
“Jensen’s interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected,” an Nvidia spokesperson told the Times in late October. “Meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year.”
Huang himself characterized the relationship similarly.
“Our relationship, our interactions, have been related to Megaspeed, and it was all completely normal and not unusual,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg last week.
He added that Nvidia had checked that none of its chips had been illegally sent to China through Megaspeed.
The Financial Times reported Friday that US officials believed Huang had been romantically involved with Alice Huang.
And in a memo to employees on Sunday, Huang said he’d been unfaithful to his wife and apologized to his family and colleagues. “My actions hurt her and our children,” he wrote. “There is no excuse for what I did.”
Huang’s statements are important given his position as CEO and the need to maintain the trust of Nvidia investors, employees, and other stakeholders.
On Sunday, the chip giant’s board said it is investigating whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence operation.
Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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