The Jensen Huang Scandal: A Timeline of the Controversy
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is facing scrutiny over reports of relationships with two women, including an executive U.S. officials suspect of spying for China. The controversy has raised questions about national security, Nvidia’s business in China, and Huang’s future at the company.
Huang acknowledged in a message to Nvidia employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife of 40 years. He apologized to his family and colleagues, but did not name Alice Huang, the Megaspeed executive at the center of the national security concerns. Nvidia says its board has begun an independent investigation, which Huang said he would cooperate with.
The stakes extend beyond Huang’s personal life. Nvidia is a leading supplier of AI chips, while U.S. export controls restrict sales of its most powerful products to Chinese entities. Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI infrastructure company, reportedly bought billions of dollars’ worth of Nvidia chips and has been investigated by U.S. and Singaporean authorities over suspected diversions to China. The Justice Department has taken over the U.S. investigation, according to reporting.
Timeline
November 11, 2026: Board reportedly weighs Huang’s future
The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia’s board was preparing to discuss whether Huang should remain CEO. Nvidia shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading and were down 11% over five days.
The same day, The New York Times reported that Huang had also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care, who reports directly to him. The report said the two were filmed being affectionate at a hotel during a conference. Nvidia, Huang, and Powell did not confirm the report.
Separately, House China committee Chairman John Moolenaar said that Huang could be subpoenaed if he did not agree to a closed-door congressional briefing about the alleged relationship with Alice Huang.
November 9, 2026: Huang withdraws from speaking engagements
Huang pulled out of scheduled appearances at the ElevenLabs Summit and the Anthropic CEO Forum.
Reports also described business ties between Alice Huang’s network and Nvidia. The Information reported that Shanghai Century Litong, a company founded in China in 2023, became an Nvidia-preferred cloud partner and helped arrange purchases of Nvidia chips, including restricted products.
Bloomberg reported that Nvidia’s chief lawyer, Tim Teter, had contacted a Commerce Department official during a 2025 government probe involving suspected chip smuggling by Megaspeed. The Financial Times reported that Alice Huang and a business partner had sought investors for an Asian data center, saying they could secure GPUs.
November 8, 2026: Huang apologizes; Trump expresses support
Huang told Nvidia employees that he had cheated on his wife and apologized, saying his actions had hurt his family. He connected his apology to national security concerns raised in news reports and said Nvidia’s board had started an independent investigation.
President Donald Trump called Huang “a fine person” and said he thought Huang should remain at the helm of Nvidia. The company’s shares fell more than 5% the following day.
November 5, 2026: Republican lawmakers request a briefing
Three Republican committee chairmen asked Huang to attend a closed-door briefing with members of the House committees on China, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence. They said Congress needed to assess whether U.S. national security had been put at risk by possible Chinese access to sensitive technology and information.
October 29, 2026: Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang becomes public
The New York Times reported that U.S. officials had been investigating Alice Huang and Megaspeed for more than a year, and that Alice Huang and Jensen Huang had a close relationship.
Nvidia said Huang’s interactions with her were ordinary customer meetings, noting that he speaks with thousands of customer executives.
Spring 2026: A classified memo warns of alleged Chinese intelligence ties
U.S. officials circulated a confidential memo among policymakers describing Alice Huang as an alleged spy for China’s Ministry of State Security and warning of her relationship with Jensen Huang. The New York Times later reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the memo’s drafting.
Late 2025: Trump is briefed on the intelligence findings
According to the New York Times, Trump was briefed on U.S. intelligence concerning Alice Huang and her connection to Jensen Huang but took no action. Huang has publicly supported expanding Nvidia’s business in China.
October 2025: U.S. and Singapore investigate Megaspeed
Both governments investigated Megaspeed over suspected violations of export controls. The company was reportedly renting computing capacity to Chinese firms, including Alibaba. A U.S. Commerce Department official who visited a Megaspeed data center in Malaysia in 2024 found Nvidia equipment still boxed, prompting concern that the chips might be shipped onward to China rather than used in the facility.
Nvidia said at the time that it had visited Megaspeed sites and found the company operating a small commercial cloud in line with U.S. export rules. The investigations intensified questions about how effectively Nvidia can track its chip exports.
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