Nvidia shares fall after internal probe into its chief executive
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Citizen Digital
Nvidia shares closed down more than 4% on Monday, after its board opened an inquiry into Jensen Huang. According to The New York Times, US officials suspect an executive linked to Megaspeed of passing information to Beijing, which Beijing denies.
The board of Nvidia, the world’s leading maker of chips for artificial intelligence, has opened an independent investigation after reports that its founder and chief executive, Jensen Huang, was the target of a foreign intelligence operation. The share price closed down more than 4%, after falling nearly 9% during the session.
According to The New York Times, US intelligence services believe that Alice Huang, a Chinese executive linked to Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed, passed information to Beijing. She is not related to Jensen Huang. In a message to employees, he acknowledged having been unfaithful to her and apologised. Beijing rejects the accusations: foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun described them as "totally unfounded slander". US President Donald Trump said he believes Jensen Huang when he says he did not know she was a spy.
The board says it has no reason to think national security or Nvidia’s secrets have been compromised. The matter could be raised at the summit between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled later this month in China.
