Nvidia, which has been the kingpin of the artificial intelligence industry for the past several years, has opened an investigation into CEO and founder Jensen Huang’s relationship with a business executive that U.S. intelligence officials say is a Chinese spy.
The news comes as Huang told staff in an email Sunday that he had an affair with Alice Huang.
“I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did,” Huang wrote in the message. “I am deeply sorry. … I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I caused, and I accept the criticism that comes with it.”
Nvidia’s board, in a statement, said it “has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised” and would “examine all available information.” Huang, it added, supports the review and has committed to cooperate with it.
Huang will remain as CEO of Nvidia during the investigation. As a co-founder, he organized a unique structure which lets him dictate all aspects of the business. He does not, however, have a supermajority of voting power at the company, such as Elon Musk does at SpaceX.
Nvidia’s recent stumbles
The revelation of Huang’s affair and the board’s investigation comes on the heels of a massive sell off in tech stocks last week. Shares of Nvidia stock (Nasdaq: NVDA) were down 9 percent for the week, as of Friday’s close. Analysts said the investigation was worthy of note, but they did not expect it to have a major impact on the company’s shares.
“Ultimately, for Nvidia, it will come back to the fundamentals and demand for the hardware,” Phillip Wool of Rayliant Global Advisors told CNBC. “Investors have been willing to overlook things like succession … in general. When these companies are printing money, investors are happy to ignore [things like this].”