Nvidia Huang investigation opens as China calls claims smears

An Nvidia Huang investigation began after reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, and China denied it.

Nvidia said on Sunday that it would run an independent probe. On Monday, Beijing called the spying claims unsubstantiated and described them as a smear campaign.

What the Nvidia Huang investigation covers

A newspaper report said US intelligence determined that a woman close to Huang was gathering information for Beijing. Huang’s open letter, posted on the company’s site, admitted a relationship with a business executive. The letter drew wide attention, and it came as the company opened its own review. He apologised to his wife and the company, and he did not name her.

“I support the investigation and will cooperate fully,” Huang wrote. He added that he loves his country and his company, and that he is committed to protecting Nvidia and supporting US national security.

The report rests on US intelligence findings, and China rejected them. It named her as Alice Huang. She ran a company that faced claims last year of illicitly shipping advanced computer chips into China, and she previously worked at a Singapore-based data centre firm, Megaspeed International.

China’s response to the Nvidia Huang investigation

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jiakun, rejected the claim at a routine briefing. “It is nothing but smears against China,” he said.

Beijing had earlier dismissed the newspaper report as well. Most coverage inside China has centred on his admission, and state media mostly repeated the government’s position.

Megaspeed and Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs did not reply to requests for comment, while many Singapore offices took a holiday on Monday. Megaspeed’s website touts its partnership with Nvidia.

Market reaction and open questions

In early trading before the opening bell on Monday, Nvidia stock fell about 5 percent. The company ranks among the world’s most valuable, alongside Apple and Microsoft.

George Chen, a partner at The Asia Group, a Washington consultancy, said the key questions are whether Huang knew of any espionage and whether anyone compromised sensitive information. “Those questions require evidence rather than speculation,” he added.

The Nvidia Huang investigation touches a wider fight over chip sales to China. The controversy raises the question whether Huang drove sales of advanced chips to China despite US restrictions. In recent years he pressed Washington to ease limits, and this year he won Trump’s backing to sell H200 chips.

The H200 is not the company’s top model, yet it remains an advanced product. Before that, he also lobbied for permission to sell the weaker H20, a chip built to fit U.S. export rules.

It is unclear whether Beijing will let Chinese firms buy H200 chips in large numbers. A filing in August said China bought only a small amount, because Beijing restricts such sales.

For now, the Nvidia Huang investigation puts the company’s China strategy under a harsher spotlight. Also, investors will watch what the independent probe finds, since the Nvidia Huang investigation could shape how Washington treats future chip sales.