“I owe my family and all of you an apology,” Huang wrote in the letter released on Nov. 8. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
Nvidia’s board has since launched an independent investigation into whether Huang was targeted by Chinese intelligence, but the affair could also have major consequences for his personal fortune.
His wife, Lori, is a co-trustee of a family trust that includes more than 528 million Nvidia shares as of March 2026, according to the company’s 2026 proxy statement. If this scandal were to lead to a divorce, billions of dollars could potentially be at stake.
Why the affair is raising national security concerns
According to The New York Times, Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the preparation of a classified memo earlier this spring, which reportedly warned senior Trump administration officials about Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang.
The memo was based on electronic surveillance of Alice, whom U.S. officials believed had been recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s main intelligence agency.
Nvidia makes some of the world’s most advanced AI chips, which power everything from chatbots to data centres. The U.S. has restricted sales of certain chips to China over concerns that the technology could be used to strengthen the rival country’s military and AI capabilities.
Megaspeed, where Alice worked as an executive, reportedly purchased about $2 billion worth of Nvidia products in recent years, the NYT reports. U.S. authorities also suspect Megaspeed helped get restricted chips into China, bypassing U.S. export rules.
“While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board’s inquiry will examine all available information,” Nvidia’s board of directors said in a statement. The board also said it still has confidence in Huang’s leadership, and he has agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
“Today’s news will not slow Nvidia,” an company spokesperson told Moneywise. “Jensen is committed to continuing to lead Nvidia as CEO without interruption.”
The cost of an affair
Huang and his wife were college sweethearts who studied engineering together at Oregon State University. The couple married in 1985, eight years before Huang co-founded Nvidia, and have since built a life and an enormous fortune together.
