Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang apologizes for affair, board opens probe
Huang said the board had launched an independent investigation into national security concerns, which he said he fully supports and will cooperate with.
Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang apologized on Sunday for being unfaithful to his wife and said he accepted full responsibility for the fallout, Turkey's state-run news agency Anadolu Agency reported.
In an email to staff, Huang said his conduct had hurt his wife and children and that he had no excuse for it.
He wrote that he was "deeply sorry" and said he hoped to rebuild his wife's trust over time.
Huang also apologized to employees, board members, business partners and shareholders, admitting he had fallen short of his duties as the company's leader.
He described leading Nvidia as "the privilege of my life" and pledged to win back the confidence of the company's stakeholders.
The email also addressed national security concerns raised in recent news reports, and Huang said Nvidia's board had started an independent investigation, which he fully supports and will cooperate with.
He said he remained committed to protecting Nvidia and supporting US national security, and he asked that his family not be held responsible for his personal decisions and that their privacy be respected.
The apology followed a New York Times report, also published on Sunday, that Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw a classified intelligence memo warning senior Trump administration officials about a close relationship between Huang and an alleged Chinese intelligence operative.
The memo was drafted in the spring and circulated among national security officials holding high-level clearances ahead of a state visit to China by President Donald Trump in May, the Times reported.
The document grew out of electronic surveillance of Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, who is not related to the Nvidia chief and worked as a senior executive at Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based data center company under federal investigation over alleged smuggling of semiconductors into mainland China.
When intelligence officials asked to unmask an American seen in intercepted communications with her, the review identified him as Jensen Huang, and counterintelligence agencies concluded that China's Ministry of State Security had recruited Alice Huang as an operative.
Jensen Huang was initially left out of the official business delegation traveling with Trump to China, but Trump intervened after media reports noted his absence and arranged for him to meet Air Force One during a refueling stop in Alaska.
Trump praised him as "the Great Jensen Huang" and ruled out restrictions on him or the chipmaker, seeing Nvidia's market dominance as vital to US economic competition and financial markets.
