Nvidia has hired law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate CEO Jensen Huang and whether he was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
Joon H. Kim, a Wachtell partner who previously served as the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, will lead the investigation, the independent members of the Nvidia board said on Tuesday.
Kim joined Wachtell as a partner in early October, according to his LinkedIn page.
The announcement comes as Nvidia faces a corporate and geopolitical crisis following revelations that Jensen Huang had an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
The Nvidia board announced the internal probe on Nov. 8, the same day the company’s CEO admitted in an apology message to company employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife.
“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,” the board said.
Jensen Huang did not identify the woman in his apology letter, but his admission followed reports about his relationship with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang.
Alice Huang, who is not related to Nvidia’s CEO, is a former executive at Megaspeed. The Singapore-based data center company has been accused of helping Chinese companies circumvent export controls to acquire Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips.
The New York Times reported in late October that U.S. intelligence officials identified Alice Huang as a Chinese intelligence asset.
Jensen Huang, meanwhile, has been a major advocate for relaxing chip exports to China, arguing that it’s better for Chinese AI developers to rely on American products than to encourage the development of domestic alternatives.
The controversy has raised questions about whether Beijing sought to exploit Alice Huang’s relationship with the Nvidia CEO to gain access to its technology and influence its business dealings with China.
Nvidia shares were down about 5.5 percent at closing on Tuesday as investors worry that Jensen Huang, who co-founded and steered the company from a startup focused on video game graphics into a global AI and semiconductor powerhouse, could leave the company.
Outside of the company, three House Republican committee chairs have asked the CEO for a closed-door briefing on how Nvidia protects its secrets and his interactions with Alice Huang.
There have been “significant national security concerns” regarding China’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information, Reps. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), chairs of the respective House committees overseeing foreign affairs, the Chinese Communist Party, and intelligence, said in their Nov. 4 letter.
“The issue of [People’s Republic of China] infiltration and access to cutting-edge U.S. technology is core to the investigative work of our three committees this Congress,” they continued. “It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk.”
The congressmen proposed the briefing for Nov. 18, or an alternative date while the current Congress is still in session. Jensen Huang has yet to confirm whether he will attend.
