Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang isn’t as flashy or controversial as AI leaders like OpenAI’s Sam Altman or SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk. The 63-year-old industry kingpin admitted to cheating on his wife of 40 years in an affair that had repercussions beyond Hwang’s personal life and potentially had national security implications.
U.S. authorities believe that Mr. Huang’s possible love interest, Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, is a Chinese spy and is providing information to the Chinese government. (Alice Fan, who is of Chinese nationality, is not related to Jensen Fan.)
Singapore-based AI infrastructure company Megaspeed has reportedly purchased $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips over the past two years. The United States and Singapore had previously investigated MegaSpeed for allegedly illegally sharing chips with China. The Justice Department then took over the federal investigation into the company, the Times reported.
The story suddenly took a new turn on Wednesday. The newspaper, citing five people who worked at Nvidia, reported that Hwang also had an extramarital affair with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care, to whom he reported. Nvidia, Huang and Powell have not confirmed this report. When contacted by a Times reporter, Huang said, “I don’t think you should talk to me directly,” and hung up.
Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported that NVIDIA’s board of directors was preparing to fire Huang, and NVIDIA’s stock price fell in after-hours trading.
The United States and China are engaged in an intense technological arms race to build cutting-edge AI infrastructure that could shape the future of each country’s economies, military power, and innovation capabilities. Nvidia is a valuable player in this race as one of the world’s largest manufacturers of AI chips, which are critical to accelerating AI development. But Nvidia, an American company, faces government restrictions in selling its most powerful chips to Chinese companies.
As the controversy unfolds, we organize the most relevant events into a reverse chronological timeline to keep you informed.
November 11, 2026: NVIDIA stock falls as board reportedly prepares to fire CEO Jensen Huang
November 11, 2026: NYT reports that Mr. Huang also had an affair with an Nvidia executive under his direct control.
The New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also had an affair with Kimberly Powell, NVIDIA’s vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to the company’s CEO.
The report said Mr. Huang and Mr. Powell were caught on film “having an affectionate interaction” at a hotel during a meeting earlier this year.
November 11, 2026: Congress plans to summon fans to answer questions about extramarital affairs
Mr. Huang has not responded to requests from three Republican lawmakers to attend a closed-door conference questioning his ties to the suspected Chinese spy. House China Committee Chairman Moolener said on FOX Business Wednesday that Huang will likely be subpoenaed if he does not agree to a press conference.
November 9, 2026: Mr. Huang withdraws from various speaking engagements.
Nvidia’s CEO has canceled scheduled talks at the Eleven Labs Summit and Anthropic CEO Forum.
November 9-10, 2026: Details about Nvidia and suspected spy business relationship revealed
Alice Fan and her family reportedly built a network of companies in China and Singapore to acquire Nvidia chips, including founding a Chinese company called Shanghai Century Liton. Founded in 2023, it will be Nvidia’s preferred cloud partner and given priority access to chips, The Information reported. The Information also reported that Shanghai Century Litong facilitated the purchase of $7.5 billion worth of NVIDIA chips, including banned chips.
Nvidia’s chief lawyer, Tim Teter, has intervened in a 2025 US government investigation into allegations of AI chip smuggling by MegaSpeed International, Bloomberg reported. Mr. Teter contacted Under Secretary of Commerce Jeffrey Kessler with questions about whether the Trump administration played a role in Alice Huang’s detention.
According to a report in the Financial Times, in early 2025, Alice Huang and her business partner sought a China-based investor to build a data center in Asia, promising they would have no problem securing GPUs.
November 8, 2026: President Trump shows support for Nvidia CEO, calling him ‘a fine man’
On Sunday night, President Trump expressed support for the Nvidia CEO in light of Huang’s controversy.
“I haven’t talked to him about this. I just know he’s a great guy, but you never know what’s going on,” Trump said.
Asked if Huang should remain at the head of Nvidia, Trump said, “I think so. Yeah, for sure.”
November 8, 2026: Huang admits to the affair in a public message to Nvidia employees. Nvidia board launches investigation
In a letter to NVIDIA employees (also published as a press release), Jensen Huang wrote that he had betrayed his wife.
“I owe my family and everyone an apology,” Hwang told the company. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and my children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am truly sorry.”
Phan did not mention Alice Phan by name in his message, but linked his infidelity to “national security concerns raised in the press.”
“NVIDIA’s Board of Directors has launched an independent investigation. I support the investigation and will fully cooperate. I love our country and our company. I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America’s national security. I am proud and grateful to be an American,” Huang wrote.
Nvidia stock fell more than 5% the next day.
November 5, 2026: Three Republican party chairmen request a private conference with Mr. Hwang
Three Republicans, John Moolener, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, sent Mr. Hwang a request for a private joint meeting with the three committees.
“Recent reports raise serious national security concerns regarding the (People’s Republic of China)’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information,” the chairs wrote. “The question of Chinese infiltration and access to America’s most advanced technology is at the heart of the investigative work of our three committees this Congress. It is critical that Congress determines the extent to which America’s national security is at risk.”
October 29, 2026: Jensen Huang publicly reveals that he had “close ties” with suspected Chinese spy
U.S. authorities had been investigating Alice Huang and Megaspeed for more than a year when the New York Times reported in late October that the two executives also had a close relationship.
An Nvidia spokesperson denied the relationship was unusual.
“Mr. Jensen’s interaction with Mr. Huang is not unusual or unexpected. Meeting with customers is part of a CEO’s job, and Mr. Jensen speaks with thousands of customer executives each year,” said NVIDIA spokesman John Rizzo. He added: “If the U.S. government believes someone is a threat to American industry, they will let us know.”
Spring 2026: Secret memo regarding Nvidia CEO’s alleged relationship with Chinese spies circulates within the Trump administration
U.S. officials circulated a secret memo among policymakers warning that Megaspeed’s Alice Fan, who had an affair with Jensen Fan, was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security. The memo was not publicly known until it was later reported by the New York Times.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the drafting of the memo.
Late 2025: President Trump explains US surveillance of Alice Huang and her relationship with NVIDIA CEO, but takes no action
Around the same time, US President Donald Trump was briefed on intelligence findings that potential Chinese spy Alice Fan had a close relationship with Jensen Fan, according to a New York Times report. President Trump did not act on this information.
Nvidia’s CEO, an ally of President Trump, has repeatedly pushed for the U.S. government to allow Nvidia to expand in China.
October 2025: US and Singapore each investigate MegaSpeed over possible Chinese export violations
Megaspeed was confirmed to be under investigation by both the US and Singapore governments in October 2025. As a customer of Nvidia, Megaspeed was suspected of helping Chinese companies circumvent a U.S. ban on chip exports.
Megaspeed, a neo-cloud using Nvidia chips, was lending computing power to Chinese internet giant Alibaba and other Chinese companies, the Times reported. Commerce Department officials who visited MegaSpeed’s data center in Malaysia in 2024 discovered a treasure trove of NVIDIA equipment still packed in boxes, but there were concerns that the equipment was being shipped directly to other locations, such as China, rather than being installed and sold as a cloud service.
In 2024, Jensen Huang was seen interacting with Megaspeed executive Alice Huang in Taiwan, the NVIDIA CEO’s hometown.
These investigations into Megaspeed highlighted concerns about the extent to which Nvidia can track chip exports. At the time, an NVIDIA spokesperson told reporters that the company “has no reason to believe that any product was repurposed.”
“NVIDIA revisited multiple Megaspeed sites earlier this week and confirmed what we had previously observed. Megaspeed, like many other companies around the world, runs small commercial clouds as permitted by U.S. export control regulations,” an Nvidia spokesperson said at the time.
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