Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has acknowledged having an extramarital affair, two days after the Financial Times reported his alleged romantic involvement with a woman the US intelligence community suspects was working as a spy for China.
Huang disclosed the affair in an internal message sent to employees on Sunday that was obtained by the Financial Times. The message included a direct apology to his family and to the company's workforce.
"I owe my family and all of you an apology," Huang said in the message. "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."
In a separate statement, Nvidia said its board would launch an independent investigation "in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort."
Huang said he would cooperate fully with the probe. "My responsibility is to serve you and be worthy of your trust," he said. "I have fallen short of that responsibility. I am fully committed to Nvidia and will work to earn back your confidence."
The Financial Times reported on Friday that the United States believed Huang had been in a romantic relationship with a Chinese woman who had been recruited to spy for the Ministry of State Security, China's intelligence agency.
According to people familiar with the matter, American officials wrote a memo this year, drawing on US intelligence information, stating that the Nvidia boss had been romantically involved with Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based customer of the chipmaker.
The revelation amounts to a serious reputational blow for Huang, who in recent years has become the public face of the artificial intelligence boom and one of its most vocal champions.
Under his leadership, the Silicon Valley company has ridden surging demand for AI computing to become the first corporation to reach a $5 trillion valuation, making any questions about his security exposure a matter of national as well as corporate concern.
