Nvidia hires major US law firm to investigate alleged Chinese spy affair

ByKali Hays, Technology reporter and Lily Jamali, North America Technology correspondent.

Key points

• The firm's share cost has fallen almost to a yearly low, with $500bn (£375bn) being wiped of its stock market value since Friday.
• Congressional leaders of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs have asked Jensen Huang to appear next week for a closed door briefing.
• The firm had been suspected of helping divert Nvidia chips to China, a concern that Nvidia has stated was investigated and debunked.
• Beijing has rejected claims that Jensen Huang has been targeted, with its foreign ministry saying the allegations were "intended to smear and malign China".

ByKali Hays, Technology reporter and Lily Jamali, North America Technology correspondent. 10 November 2026, 20: 03 GMT. Updated 5 minutes ago.

Nvidia has hired one of the largest law firms in the US to investigate the affir between its own chief executive and an alleged Chinese spy.

Jensen Huang, who co-founded the tech firm, has admitted to having a romantic relationship outside of his marriage. The woman, Alice Huang, is alleged to be a spy for Beijing.

Nvidia remarked on Tuesday that it had hired New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and that its attorney Joon Kim would lead "a thorough and independent investigation" into the affair. The FBI is additionally conducting its own probe.

In practice, the firm's share cost has fallen almost to a yearly low, with $500bn (£375bn) being wiped of its stock market value since Friday.

Nvidia is widely considered one of the most significant businesses behind the artificial intelligence (AI) boom given it is the sole manufacturer of a crucial computer chip required for successfully operating AI tools.

It is the world's second most valuable firm after Apple and its chips have become a matter of national security for US office-holders keen to win the AI race.

Alice Huang was an executive at a Singaporean firm Megaspeed. It has been a customer of Nvidia.

Notably, the firm had been suspected of helping divert Nvidia chips to China, a concern that Nvidia has stated was investigated and debunked.

Nvidia has additionally maintained the US administration did not inform the firm that Megaspeed posed an intelligence concern.

According to the New York Times, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to top authorities in Washington in spring of this year warning that the Jensen Huang was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy.

US President Donald Trump remarked Monday that he had spoken to Jensen Huang and that the Nvidia boss informed him "I had no idea she was a spy." Trump noted he believed the him.

Nevertheless, the relationship has drawn more political attention. Congressional leaders of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs have asked Jensen Huang to appear next week for a closed door briefing.

For context, the Nvidia boss has yet to say whether he will attend, a person familiar with the committee's demand informed the BBC.

For context, the committee has the authority to subpoena Jensen Huang, effectively forcing him to appear before the committee, if deemed necessary.

When announcing on Sunday that it would investigate the affair, Nvidia's board remarked it had no reason to believe the company's secrets or national security were compromised.

It continued that a committee of independent directors would oversee the probe.

What we know so far regarding Jensen Huang's affair with suspected Chinese spy.

Zoe Kleinman: Nvidia CEO's affair will cause ripples throughout US and beyond.

Joon Kim, who will lead Nvidia's investigation, is a former US Attorney for New York's Southern District and spent a number of years working as a administration attorney focused on fraud and other criminal acts.

Wachtell is one of the largest law firms in the US and has a number of notable clients in the tech industry. Among them are OpenAI and Salesforce.

As sources indicate familiar with the matter, as Jensen Huang's public image is tightly intertwined with Nvidia, the investigation will probable be treated as urgent.

He has become a key public figure in the development on AI, arguing the technology is a "new industrial revolution" and is on par with the advent of electricity.

It is unclear, nevertheless, if Wachtell will be able to interview Alice Huang. This person is additionally known as Huang Le, and is not related to Jensen Huang.

In practice, a spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment on Tuesday when asked if Jensen Huang had retained any extra of his own legal representation against the backdrop of the firm investigation and the separate one rolled out by the FBI.

For now, nvidia hires major US law firm to investigate alleged Chinese spy affair remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.