Nvidia's board has opened an investigation following New York Times reports that chief executive Jensen Huang had a romantic relationship with a woman suspected by US intelligence of being a Chinese spy. In a statement on Sunday, the board expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team. Huang separately acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife and apologised for hurting his family.

According to the New York Times, US officials concluded that Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, had been recruited by China's leading intelligence agency. She was a senior executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed. The company had faced suspicions that it helped divert Nvidia chips to China, allegations Nvidia says were investigated and debunked.

Surveillance reportedly uncovered communications between Alice Huang and an American later identified as Jensen Huang through a procedure known as unmasking. What information she allegedly supplied to Beijing, its value and when any intelligence gathering began remain unclear. She did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment. Nvidia told the BBC it had been unaware of intelligence concerns and expected the US government to notify it of a genuine threat.

The investigation puts renewed scrutiny on a business leader whose company occupies a central position in the competition between Washington and Beijing over artificial intelligence. Huang has developed a close relationship with President Donald Trump, who appeared alongside him and Elon Musk at a recent White House AI summit attended by 42 technology executives. Trump told reporters he had not spoken to Huang since the investigation became public, while praising his contribution to the country.

Since 2022, US export restrictions have limited China's access to advanced technology on national security grounds. Huang has said Nvidia's Chinese market share fell from roughly 95% to effectively zero. He has travelled between Washington and Beijing seeking an approved route back into the market, but has yet to secure the administration's permission to sell all except Nvidia's most advanced chips to China.

Huang founded Nvidia in 1993 with fellow electrical engineers Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. Initially associated with graphics chips for computer games, the business became a dominant supplier of AI hardware and is now valued at about $4.5 trillion. Biographer Stephen Witt told the BBC that Huang recognised the potential of neural network research in 2012 and committed substantial resources to developing hardware for the emerging industry.

Born in Taiwan in 1963, Huang moved to the US with his family at nine. He studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University and Stanford University before working at AMD. His estimated wealth is $155 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. BBC sources said his departure from Nvidia was unlikely given the financial stakes and absence of an obvious successor.

Huang met his wife, Lori, while they were electrical engineering students and laboratory partners at Oregon State. They married in 1985 and have two children, both of whom work at Nvidia. Addressing his infidelity in a statement, Huang said: "There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."