The unfolding Jensen Huang scandal: a timeline

The unfolding Jensen Huang scandal: a timeline

The affair could have ramifications for national security as the U.S. and China race to develop the most advanced AI infrastructure.

Nvidia co-founder CEO Jensen Huang has never been as flashy or controversy-prone as AI leaders like OpenAI’s Sam Altman or SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk. Now, the 63-year-old industry kingpin has admitted that he cheated on his wife of 40 years in an affair that could have ramifications beyond Huang’s personal life and potentially impact national security.

United States officials believe that Huang’s likely romantic interest, Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, is a Chinese spy who has been feeding information back to Beijing. (Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen, is of no relation to Jensen Huang.)

Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI infrastructure company, had reportedly purchased $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips over the last two years. The U.S. and Singapore have both previously investigated Megaspeed over suspicions that the firm was illegally sharing chips with China. The Justice Department has since taken over the federal investigation into the company, the Times has reported.

The story took a sudden new turn on Wednesday. Citing five people who worked at Nvidia, the Times reported that Huang also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of health care, who reports directly to him. Nvidia, Huang and Powell have not confirmed the report. Reached by a Times reporter, Huang reportedly said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” before hanging up.

In brief

Nvidia co-founder CEO Jensen Huang has never been as flashy or controversy-prone as AI leaders like OpenAI’s Sam Altman or SpaceXAI’s Elon Musk. United States officials believe that Huang’s likely romantic interest, Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, is a Chinese spy who has been feeding information back to Beijing. (Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen, is of no relation to Jensen Huang.) Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI infrastructure company, had reportedly purchased $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips over the last two years. Nvidia, Huang and Powell have not confirmed the report.

This is the opening of the story, shared with credit to TechCrunch. The rest of the report — with every detail — continues on the publisher’s website.

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