China's Foreign Ministry rejected allegations involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Monday, while Nvidia's board opened an inquiry into a reported intelligence operation and said it had seen no sign of compromised company secrets.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun called the allegations unsubstantiated and “directed at smearing China.” He said the ministry had also addressed the matter last week.
Nvidia announced the independent review Sunday, assigning it to a committee of independent directors, with outside lawyers assisting. The board said it had no reason to believe company secrets or U.S. national security had been compromised and expressed confidence in Huang's leadership. Nvidia said the review concerned national and economic security as well as shareholder interests.
The New York Times reported Sunday that U.S. intelligence officials believed Alice Huang, an executive linked to Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, had provided information to Beijing. The paper also reported that Jensen Huang told Nvidia's board that he and Alice Huang had been intimate. The allegation remains unverified, and China disputes it.
In a message Nvidia published Sunday, Jensen Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife and said he would cooperate with the board's inquiry. Nvidia's published messages did not name Alice Huang.
A Nov. 4 letter from three House committee chairs asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing about his reported contacts with Alice Huang and Nvidia's security safeguards. The chairs cited possible exposure of sensitive U.S. technology as a concern; the letter did not say a breach had occurred. It asked Huang to respond by Nov. 11 and proposed Nov. 18 for the briefing, one day after Nvidia's scheduled third-quarter results call on Nov. 17 at 5 p.m. ET (22:00 UTC). EconoTimes previously covered the House chairs' briefing request.
