Jensen Huang Misled Nvidia Executives About Alice Huang Ties, Reuters Reports, as Stock Posts Sixth Straight Weekly Loss
Former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang misled several of the company’s top leaders about the nature of his relationship with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, telling them their contact amounted to routine business dealings with a customer, Reuters reported on Friday.
The report, based on two people familiar with the matter and internal Nvidia correspondence reviewed by Reuters, landed a day after Huang resigned as chief executive of the chipmaker he co-founded and led for 33 years. It added a new and damaging detail to a scandal that has already wiped about $1.6 trillion from Nvidia’s market value and pushed its stock to a sixth consecutive weekly loss, the longest such slide since 2012.
According to Reuters, Huang sent messages in October to senior Nvidia executives, including general counsel Tim Teter and chief marketing officer Alison Wagonfeld, describing his interactions with Alice Huang as standard business dealings with a customer. In other messages, he affirmed that the company’s dealings with Megaspeed International, the Singapore-based cloud computing company where Alice Huang was a senior executive, were ordinary business activity.
Reuters said it reviewed several of the October exchanges on condition that it not quote from the messages verbatim, and that it was the first to report on the correspondence. The news agency said it learned of earlier exchanges, from the autumn of 2025, through accounts from people familiar with the matter, and that Huang described the relationship as appropriate at both times when press questions drew Nvidia leaders’ attention to it.
What Reuters found — and what it did not
The Reuters report is careful about what remains unproven. The agency said it has not independently verified whether Alice Huang was working on behalf of the Chinese government, and it did not name the second Nvidia employee involved in a separate relationship it reported on Thursday.
Photographs verified by Reuters showed Huang and Alice Huang together in the United States, China and elsewhere as early as December 2023. The New York Times reported in October last year that Huang had been seen in public with Alice Huang, and Reuters reported that he discussed taking legal action against the newspaper at the time.
The New York Times reported earlier this week that Huang also had an extramarital relationship with an Nvidia employee, and Reuters reported on Thursday that he had another intimate relationship with a different Nvidia employee. Huang has apologized to Nvidia employees, telling staff he was unfaithful to his wife and that his actions hurt her and their children.
Alice Huang is a former senior executive at Megaspeed, a major Nvidia customer that the United States has been investigating over suspicions that it helped divert restricted American artificial intelligence chips to China. Megaspeed has denied wrongdoing. Research group C4ADS has reported that Megaspeed bought $4.6 billion in advanced processors from Nvidia between 2023 and 2025.
Intelligence intercepts and an unsettled spy question
A separate CNN report on Friday added another layer to the case. Citing multiple sources, CNN reported that United States intelligence intercepted communications connected to the investigation in the spring, and that when the identity of the American involved was unmasked, it was revealed to be Huang, then Nvidia’s chief executive.
According to CNN, Secretary of State Marco Rubio prepared a memo outlining the intelligence findings and shared it with a small group of senior United States officials, including White House officials, so they would be aware of Huang’s relationship with the Megaspeed executive when they interacted with him.
But the central espionage question remains unsettled. Officials at the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told CNN that the intelligence collected so far does not prove Alice Huang was acting as a spy for Beijing, and Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that neither the Justice Department nor the FBI has reached a conclusion on her status. An FBI counterintelligence investigation that began at least a year ago remains open.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that 22 servers built by Dell Technologies and packed with restricted Nvidia H800 chips ended up in a data center in Shanghai tied to a company founded by Alice Huang. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that the Treasury had favored blacklisting Megaspeed, telling CNBC: “The real story here should be, did Nvidia know their client.”
The board’s investigation
Nvidia’s independent directors hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz on November 10 to conduct an independent investigation, after the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported on Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang. Huang resigned on Thursday, and chief financial officer Colette Kress was named interim chief executive. Related: Jensen Huang Resigns as Nvidia CEO After 33 Years as Board Names Interim Chief
Huang said in an interview with Bloomberg published on October 29 that the United States government had not informed him about its suspicions regarding Alice Huang. Nvidia’s board has said it has no reason to believe that company secrets or national security were compromised.
Congress has also moved into the affair. Three congressional committees are seeking Huang’s testimony, and lawmakers have summoned both Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over Nvidia chip exports to China.
The stock slide: six weeks, about $1.6 trillion
Investors have punished Nvidia relentlessly. The stock fell 2.01 percent on Friday to close at $162.85, completing a 12.75 percent drop for the week, its sixth straight weekly decline. It was the longest run of weekly losses for the stock since a six-week stretch that ended in October 2012, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Related: Wall Street Ends Mixed Friday as Chip Stocks Slide Again
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Nvidia has lost roughly 30 percent of its value since the slide began in early October, about $1.6 trillion in market capitalization, and its market value closed below $4 trillion on Friday for the first time since July 2025. The company, which spent most of the year as the world’s most valuable listed company, has fallen below Apple. MarketWatch reported that Nvidia shed $573.34 billion in market value this week alone, its largest weekly wipeout on record.
Wall Street has turned sharply cautious. HSBC analyst Frank Lee cut Nvidia to hold from buy on Friday and slashed his price target to $170 from $365, arguing the stock will struggle until a permanent chief executive is named. Other firms have also cut ratings or price targets in recent days, and the Financial Times reported that Nvidia’s board has approached Arm Holdings chief executive Rene Haas as a possible successor.
Notably, the selling began weeks before the scandal broke, as investors questioned the scale of artificial intelligence infrastructure spending and the financing behind it. The affair accelerated a decline that was already under way, and money has rotated into rivals: AMD and Broadcom both gained sharply for the week even as Nvidia fell.
Why this matters
Nvidia sits at the center of the artificial intelligence economy. Its chips power the data centers behind the largest AI systems, and its market value made it the most valuable company in the world for much of this year. A leadership crisis at Nvidia is therefore not only a corporate governance story but a market story, a national security story and a test of the AI trade itself.
The Reuters report matters because it goes to what the company’s own leadership knew, and when. If the chief executive gave his general counsel and his chief marketing officer an account of the relationship that was not true, the board’s independent investigation will have to establish whether that misled the company’s own handling of a matter that later drew the attention of United States intelligence, Congress and the Treasury Department.
For investors, the next test comes quickly. Nvidia is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Tuesday, November 17. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expect revenue of about $108.9 billion, up 91 percent from a year earlier. Interim chief executive Colette Kress will lead the earnings call, and Wall Street will be listening for whether demand for Nvidia’s chips remains as strong as the company has claimed — and for any sign of who will lead the company next.
Latest developments
- Reuters reported on Friday, November 13, that Jensen Huang misled Nvidia executives, including general counsel Tim Teter and chief marketing officer Alison Wagonfeld, about his relationship with Alice Huang.
- CNN reported the same day that United States intelligence intercepted communications in the spring that were later unmasked as involving Huang, and that CIA and ODNI officials say the intelligence so far does not prove Alice Huang spied for Beijing.
- Nvidia shares closed Friday at $162.85, down 2.01 percent on the day and 12.75 percent for the week, a sixth straight weekly decline and the longest since 2012.
- HSBC cut Nvidia to hold and lowered its price target to $170 from $365.
- Nvidia reports third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, November 17.
Frequently asked questions
What did Reuters report about Jensen Huang?
Reuters reported that Huang misled several Nvidia leaders, including the company’s general counsel and chief marketing officer, by describing his relationship with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang as routine business dealings with a customer, according to two people familiar with the matter and internal correspondence the agency reviewed.
Who is Alice Huang?
Alice Huang is a former senior executive at Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based cloud computing company and major Nvidia customer. United States authorities have been investigating Megaspeed over suspicions it helped divert restricted Nvidia chips to China. Whether she acted as a Chinese intelligence asset has not been established, and the FBI investigation remains open.
How far has Nvidia’s stock fallen?
Nvidia shares have fallen about 30 percent since early October, wiping out roughly $1.6 trillion in market value. The stock fell 12.75 percent this week alone, its sixth consecutive weekly decline and its longest since 2012, closing Friday at $162.85 with a market value below $4 trillion.
When does Nvidia report earnings?
Nvidia is scheduled to report third-quarter results on Tuesday, November 17, with interim chief executive Colette Kress leading the call. Analysts expect revenue of about $108.9 billion, up 91 percent from a year earlier.
The Reuters report turns a personal scandal into a governance question for one of the world’s most important companies. With an independent investigation under way, Congress seeking testimony, earnings due on Tuesday and the stock at its lowest in months, Nvidia’s board now has to answer not only who leads the company next, but what its leaders were told — and when.
