Can Nvidia’s boss survive a Chinese-spy controversy?

Résumé détaillé

Jensen Huang is caught with his pants down | World News

FEW people have been more central to the boom in artificial intelligence than Jensen Huang. And no firm has benefited more from it than Nvidia, the chip giant that under Mr Huang’s leadership has become the world’s most valuable company. On November 8th it was struck by scandal, as Nvidia’s boss confessed to an affair that the board is investigating as a possible spy operation. The storm jeopardises Mr Huang’s 33-year reign over the company. It may also have lasting implications for the geopolitics of AI.

In a short memo Mr Huang apologised to his family and his company for the affair. Simultaneously Nvidia’s board said it had launched an investigation into reports that Mr Huang, who has a close relationship with President Donald Trump, had “been the target of a foreign-intelligence effort”. The missives followed allegations that Mr Huang had been romantically involved with Alice Huang (no relation), a Chinese executive of a Singapore-based data-centre company. American officials reportedly believe Ms Huang to be a Chinese spy.

Mr Huang initially insisted that there was nothing unusual about their relationship, and that it concerned only her company, Megaspeed, a client of Nvidia’s. Now he has confessed. The board said it had no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia’s secrets were compromised. Mr Huang is expected to remain as boss during the investigation, but while it is under way his future will hang in the balance. “The big question is if he has to resign or not,” says Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson, an investment bank.

The scandal marks a spectacular fall from grace. Since the start of the current AI wave in late 2022 the market value of Nvidia has risen more than tenfold, to $4.5trn, making Mr Huang a hectobillionaire. The ultra-powerful chips designed and sold by his company provide two-thirds of the world’s AI computing power.

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