The Nvidia spy scandal and Jensen Huang's exit

In early November, Huang told employees he had been unfaithful to his wife, and Nvidia's board opened an investigation into his conduct.^[1] Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen also known as Huang Le, had until recently been an executive at Megaspeed, which rents out AI computing capacity to companies in Asia.^[1] By November 12 Nvidia had replaced Huang as chief executive,^[3][5] and Elon Musk said it would be "an honor" to hire him.^[3]

Attention also turned to Alice Huang and Megaspeed. Taiwan said she had entered the island on a Hong Kong passport,^[7] and Singapore said it had barred her for giving police inaccurate information after investigating her role at Megaspeed, though it found insufficient evidence to prosecute her.^[8] Megaspeed, which has denied diverting chips illegally to China, pledged to cooperate with US investigations.^[9][4]

In Washington the scandal reached the administration. Trump stood by Huang,^[5] though he had been told aboard Air Force One in May, on his way to China, that the United States had intelligence showing Huang was in a relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy, according to people with knowledge of the briefing.^[5] Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called Trump's support for Huang a "dereliction of duty,"^[10] and Republicans turned on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who had stalled a crackdown on companies suspected of diverting Nvidia chips to China, while the White House stood by him.^[6] Two Democratic senators asked the administration to preserve its records on the export of Nvidia chips to China,^[11] and Huang agreed to a closed-door briefing for lawmakers on his interactions with Alice Huang and on Nvidia's security protocols, Rep. Brian Mast said.^[5] Nvidia's fight to sell advanced chips to China is followed in its own Story.