Nvidia Hires Wachtell to Lead Probe of CEO Huang
Nvidia has chosen who will investigate its own chief executive. The company said on Tuesday that it hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, with attorney Joon Kim in charge of what it calls "a thorough and independent investigation."
Who is looking into what
The probe concerns Jensen Huang's relationship outside his marriage with Alice Huang, who is alleged to be a spy for Beijing. She is also known as Huang Le and is not related to him. Huang has admitted to the relationship.
The board announced the investigation on Sunday. It said a committee of independent directors would oversee it. It also said it had no reason to believe company secrets or national security were compromised. The FBI is running its own separate probe.
Wachtell counts OpenAI and Salesforce among its tech clients. Kim is a former US Attorney for the Southern District of New York and spent years as a government attorney on fraud and other criminal cases. Sources say the investigation will likely be treated as urgent, since Huang's public image is tightly tied to the company.
The Megaspeed link
Alice Huang was an executive at Megaspeed, a Singaporean company that is an Nvidia customer. Nvidia says it looked into suspicions that Megaspeed moved its chips into China and found them baseless. It also says the US government did not tell it that Megaspeed posed an intelligence concern.
The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to top Washington officials earlier this year warning that Huang was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy. Beijing has rejected the claims, saying they were "intended to smear and malign China."
Pressure from Washington and the market
President Donald Trump said on Monday he had spoken to Huang, who told him he had "no idea she was a spy." Trump said he believed him.
The House Committee on Foreign Affairs has asked Huang for a private briefing next week. A person familiar with the demand says he has not said whether he will attend. The committee can subpoena him if it deems that necessary.
Nvidia's shares have fallen almost to a yearly low, and $500 billion has been wiped off its market value since Friday. Only Apple is worth more, and US officials treat Nvidia's chips as a national security matter.
It is unclear whether Wachtell will be able to interview Alice Huang. Nvidia declined to comment on whether Huang has hired his own lawyers.
Source: BBC News