Nvidia's independent directors retain Joon H. Kim and Wachtell for Huang inquiry, board says

The independent members of Nvidia’s board said Tuesday that they have retained Joon H. Kim, a former acting U.S. attorney of the Southern District of New York, and his firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, “to conduct a thorough and independent investigation as was announced on Sunday.” The statement did not name the subject of the inquiry. CNBC and the Financial Times also reported the appointment.

On Sunday, the board said it was opening an independent investigation “in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort,” work AI Tech Daily reported at the time. “A committee of independent directors, assisted by outside independent counsel, will oversee the investigation,” the board said. “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.” It said Huang “fully supports the review and has committed to cooperating with it” and that the board “has confidence in Jensen and his leadership team.”

CNBC reported that Huang, in a Sunday email to staff, acknowledged an affair and wrote, “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did.” An Nvidia representative told CNBC that Huang was committed to continuing as chief executive without interruption.

The New York Times and the Financial Times have reported that U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Alice Huang, whom those reports described as an executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed, was involved with Chinese intelligence, CNBC said, summarizing those accounts. The Financial Times has described Megaspeed as a Singapore-based Nvidia client that U.S. authorities have investigated over chip shipments to China. Those intelligence-link claims come from the news reports, not from Nvidia’s board statements. The Guardian reported Monday that Alice Huang had not given a public statement about the allegations. CNBC’s Tuesday report did not include comment from Alice Huang or Megaspeed.

Nvidia’s statements do not name the directors on the investigating committee. The Financial Times reported that Stephen Neal, the board’s lead independent director, is heading it. CNBC reported Monday that Nvidia had not named the investigators and that Neal did not respond to the network. Lawmakers have also pressed chip-export measures after the reports, as AI Tech Daily has covered.

Nvidia’s independent directors retain Joon H. Kim and Wachtell for Huang inquiry, board says

Sources