Some stories arrive as a single fact and then reveal the older pattern beneath them. Here, a man who helped shape the machinery of the artificial intelligence age is shown, in private messages written months before his public fall, insisting that a close relationship was nothing more than ordinary commerce, and the trust of his own leadership team was extended on that basis. The record now suggests the reassurance was false, and that questions about the same relationship had surfaced before. What remains open is what an independent inquiry will make of a company's word when its highest voice h
Ex-Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Allegedly Misled Top Lawyer About Affair With Chinese Businesswoman
Standard business dealings with customers, he told them. It was an affair.
Mark
Why does this matter beyond the affair itself?
Mimi
Because the reporting is about what executives were told. Huang allegedly described the contact with Alice Huang as routine customer business to the general counsel and the marketing chief, and that's a governance problem.
Luke
Careful, though. Reuters reviewed the messages but agreed not to quote them, and its sources are anonymous. We're relying on its characterization.
Mark
And the counterpart is a customer's former executive under US scrutiny?
Mimi
Yes. Alice Huang formerly held a top role at Megaspeed International, an Nvidia customer, and the US was reportedly investigating whether she spied for China.
Luke
Which is unproven. Beijing denies it, and Reuters hasn't verified she worked for the Chinese government.
Mark
Did he say the same thing in 2025?
Mimi
Sources say he described the interactions as appropriate then too, but Reuters only saw the October 2026 messages.
Luke
So the 2025 part is secondhand. Also unclear is when the relationship turned intimate. Photos date their meetings to December 2023, but they don't settle that.
Mark
What comes next?
Mimi
The independent directors hired Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate.
Luke
And nobody has said what it will examine or when it will report. Teter, Wagonfeld and Huang's representative haven't commented on the record.
Il Polso
- Two October messages told Nvidia's leadership that Jensen Huang's dealings with Alice Huang were routine, while sources say the two were in an affair.
- The disclosure lands on top of a sudden resignation as CEO and an apology that conspicuously does not name the woman at its center.
- US authorities are reportedly examining whether Alice Huang spied for China, a suspicion Beijing denies and Reuters has not independently confirmed.
- Independent directors have hired Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and their investigation's findings will decide what corporate and legal consequences follow.
Some stories arrive as a single fact and then reveal the older pattern beneath them. Here, a man who helped shape the machinery of the artificial intelligence age is shown, in private messages written months before his public fall, insisting that a close relationship was nothing more than ordinary commerce, and the trust of his own leadership team was extended on that basis. The record now suggests the reassurance was false, and that questions about the same relationship had surfaced before. What remains open is what an independent inquiry will make of a company's word when its highest voice has been found to speak differently in private.
In two messages sent in October, Jensen Huang assured Nvidia's leadership that his dealings with a Chinese businesswoman, Alice Huang, were ordinary customer business. According to people familiar with the matter and internal correspondence reviewed by Reuters, the two were in fact having an affair, and the assurances reached general counsel Tim Teter and chief marketing officer Alison Wagonfeld.
The revelation follows Huang's resignation as chief executive last Thursday, which closed his role at the center of the artificial intelligence boom. His Sunday apology acknowledged infidelity and disappointment to the company but did not name Alice Huang, who shares his surname but is not related to him. She is a former executive at Megaspeed International, an Nvidia customer, and US authorities have reportedly investigated whether she spied for China. Beijing denies this, and Reuters has not verified it.
The pattern reaches back further. In 2025 and again in October 2026, press questions about his ties to Megaspeed prompted internal discussion, and on both occasions he described the interactions as appropriate. Photos verified by Reuters place the two together across several countries since December 2023, and it is unclear when things became intimate.
Now the board has hired outside lawyers to investigate. Nothing is settled yet, and the inquiry's findings will determine what comes next for the company and for the people who were told the story was simple.
In two separate messages sent in October, Jensen Huang told Nvidia's leadership that his dealings with a Chinese businesswoman named Alice Huang were ordinary business with a customer. According to two people familiar with the matter and internal correspondence reviewed by Reuters, that account was not accurate: the two were having an affair. Among those who received the assurances were general counsel Tim Teter and chief marketing officer Alison Wagonfeld.
The messages are the new element in a story that has moved quickly. Last Thursday, Huang resigned as Nvidia's chief executive, ending a run as one of the central figures in the technology behind the artificial intelligence boom. On Sunday he issued a statement apologizing for being unfaithful to his wife and for disappointing the company. The statement did not name Alice Huang. The two share a surname but are not related.
Alice Huang is a former top executive at Megaspeed International, an Nvidia customer. US authorities have been investigating whether she was spying for China, and Beijing has denied that she is a spy. Reuters says it has not independently verified whether she worked on behalf of the Chinese government.
Reuters reviewed several exchanges from October, on the condition that it not quote the messages directly. Beyond the two messages describing standard customer dealings, Huang in other messages affirmed that his interactions with Megaspeed were routine. The people who described the correspondence spoke anonymously. Reuters is the first outlet to report on it.
There is also an earlier chapter. In the autumn of 2025, and again in October 2026, press inquiries drew some Nvidia leaders' attention to his relationship with Megaspeed and Alice Huang. Both times, the sources said, Huang described the interactions as appropriate. Reuters saw only the October 2026 messages, not those from 2025. The 2025 exchanges followed a New York Times article from October of that year that drew attention to his public meetings with her. Huang did not describe an affair to leaders then, the sources said. He also discussed legal action against the Times, but neither he nor Nvidia sued, and a Times spokesperson said the paper received no legal demand.
It is unclear when the relationship became intimate. Photos posted online and verified by Reuters show the two together in the United States, China and elsewhere, going back as far as December 2023.
The Times reported this week that Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an Nvidia employee. Reuters reported Thursday that he had an intimate relationship with a different Nvidia employee. In an interview with Bloomberg published October 29, Huang said the US government had not told him of its suspicions about Alice Huang.
Teter did not respond to a request for comment, and Wagonfeld did not immediately respond. A representative for Huang and an Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment. A call and email to contact details on a business card for Alice Huang went unanswered.
On November 10, Nvidia's independent board members said they had hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct an independent investigation, after the Times and the Wall Street Journal reported on the relationship and the US suspicions. Its findings are what to watch next.
Citazioni salienti
Huang apologized for being unfaithful to his wife and for disappointing the company, without naming Alice Huang.— Jensen Huang, statement on Sunday
The US government had not informed him about its suspicions regarding Alice Huang.— Jensen Huang, Bloomberg interview published October 29
Vuoi la storia completa?
Leggi l'originale su HuffPost ↗