President Donald Trump said on Monday that the FBI is investigating Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s relationship with a businesswoman US authorities believe is a Chinese intelligence asset, hours after shareholders sued the chipmaker and its boss for allegedly concealing the affair.
The proposed class action, filed in federal court in San Jose, California, accuses Nvidia and Mr Huang of defrauding shareholders by concealing his alleged affair with Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore-based Megaspeed who is not related to him. The complaint says the company failed to disclose that the matter raised national security concerns that threatened Nvidia’s reputation and business prospects. Shareholders led by retail investor Mark Kistenmacher are seeking unspecified damages.
The lawsuit was filed five minutes after the US stock market closed on Monday. Nvidia shares had already fallen 4.3 percent that day, wiping about $190 billion from the company’s market value, after its board announced an independent investigation the previous day into whether Mr Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence effort.
The New York Times reported last month that US authorities had concluded Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset who passed information to Beijing while developing a close relationship with the Nvidia chief. Reuters said it could not independently verify the intelligence allegation, which China has rejected as groundless. No evidence has been made public that Mr Huang knowingly took part in any intelligence activity, and the espionage claims remain allegations, not established findings.
Mr Trump said he had spoken to Mr Huang, who told him he had no idea the woman could be involved in espionage. The president said he did not think the executive had reason to worry, but gave no further details of the FBI inquiry.
Mr Huang, 63, told Nvidia employees in a letter on Sunday that he had been unfaithful to his wife, without giving details of the relationship, and said he supported the board’s investigation and would cooperate fully. The board said it had no reason to believe US national security or Nvidia secrets had been compromised, and expressed confidence in Mr Huang and his leadership team.
Megaspeed, the Singapore cloud-computing firm where Alice Huang was an executive and later controlling shareholder, is listed as an official Nvidia cloud partner. It has been under US investigation since October 2025 over suspicions it helped Chinese customers obtain advanced Nvidia chips subject to Washington’s export controls, though there has been no public finding that it broke the rules.
The affair has put Nvidia, the world’s most valuable chipmaker and the company at the centre of the global race for artificial intelligence, under intense scrutiny. Mr Huang co-founded the company and has led it for more than three decades; he owns 3.6 percent of its stock and is one of President Trump’s closest allies in Silicon Valley. Top Republicans in Congress have already summoned him to answer questions about whether he knew of any alleged intelligence activity and whether sensitive information was compromised.
Sources: Reuters, “Nvidia, CEO Huang sued over disclosures related to suspected Chinese spy”, 9 November 2026 — https://www.reuters.com/world/nvidia-ceo-huang-sued-over-disclosures-related-suspected-chinese-spy-2026-11-09/ ; Reuters, “FBI Nvidia probe, Hegseth impeachment vote and Russia-Ukraine talks”, 10 November 2026 — https://www.reuters.com/podcasts/fbi-nvidia-probe-hegseth-impeachment-vote-russia-ukraine-talks-2026-11-10/ ; Associated Press, “Timeline: How did Nvidia’s CEO get caught up in an alleged spy plot?”, 10 November 2026.
