Washington (United States) (AFP) – Nvidia boss Jensen Huang, whose chips are fueling the global boom in artificial intelligence (AI) and who has the ear of Donald Trump, has admitted to an affair with a Chinese executive whom American intelligence suspects of working for Beijing.

Published on: 09/11/2026 - 21:42

Here is what we know:

– What happened? –

The American-Taiwanese Jensen Huang, 63, recognized this relationship on Sunday in a message to employees of the Santa Clara (California) group, which he co-founded in 1993.

"I have been unfaithful to my wife. My actions have hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did," he wrote.

The admission followed reports in the New York Times that US intelligence concluded that his lover, Alice Huang, was passing information to China.

The group had so far affirmed that their exchanges were nothing "unusual or unexpected", given their business relations.

-Who is Alice Huang? –

Also known as Huang Le, she was a senior manager at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company, spun off in 2023 from a Chinese group, which rents computing power provided by Nvidia chips.

According to the Wall Street Journal, she was photographed with Jensen Huang in Taipei in 2024 and 2025. Footage from Taiwanese broadcaster CTI shows them close at dinner in May 2025.

According to the New York Times, a memo circulated this spring among senior US officials presented her as an agent of the Chinese Ministry of State Security, recruited to gather information on Jensen Huang, and perhaps push Nvidia to advocate for the sale of its best chips to China.

Authorities in Singapore and Taiwan also suspected her of having been recruited by Chinese intelligence, according to the WSJ. We don't know where she is.

Washington suspects Megaspeed of helping smuggle restricted chips into China, and the Justice Department has resumed a federal investigation into the company.

Beijing rejects the accusations. “The story of an alleged Chinese spy is entirely baseless denigration and defamation,” Chinese diplomatic spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday.

– Why is this important? –

Nvidia controls about 90% of the market for chips used to train and operate AI models, according to estimates. Since 2022, Washington has restricted the sale of the most advanced ones to China.

Jensen Huang is also one of Donald Trump's most influential informal advisors on AI. According to the WSJ, intelligence suspected this connection when it was pressuring the White House to authorize its exports to China.

At the end of 2025, he argued for selling Nvidia's most powerful chips there, a move blocked by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Donald Trump, on the other hand, authorized the sale of a less advanced chip, the H200, with the American state taking 25% of the revenue.

According to the New York Times, Donald Trump was informed of the suspicions about a year ago and refrained from acting. Asked on Fox News on Sunday whether Jensen Huang would remain at the helm of Nvidia, he replied: "I think so, of course," calling him an "honorable man." He said he did not regret not having acted.

– What does the board of directors do? –

He announced on Sunday the opening of an independent investigation. "While the board has no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia's secrets were compromised, its investigation will consider all available information," it said.

A committee of independent directors, assisted by lawyers, will conduct the review, and Jensen Huang remains boss in the meantime, according to the New York Times.

- And now ? –

Republican chairmen of committees in the House of Representatives, including the one devoted to China, asked Jensen Huang to participate on November 18 in Washington in a closed meeting on Nvidia's security protocols.

Analyst Dan Ives predicts several parliamentary investigations, thanks to the resumption of control of Congress by the Democrats since the mid-term elections of November 3. According to him, Jensen Huang should retain his position in the short term, but could be ousted depending on the conclusions of the internal investigation.

“It is premature to conclude that Jensen poses a threat to national security before the facts are fully established,” George Chen of consultancy The Asia Group told AFP.

© 2026 AFP

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