Nvidia stock falls after company opens probe into CEO’s relationship with Chinese spy

Nvidia’s stock slid about 4% on Monday after the company announced that it had opened an investigation into CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with a woman that U.S. intelligence agencies say is a Chinese spy.

The probe has the potential to unsettle the entire AI boom, fueled by trillions of dollars of spending and investments, in part to purchase Nvidia’s cutting-edge AI chips. Nvidia’s drop wiped out more than $200 billion in value.

The CEO, who also founded the company more than three decades ago, admitted in a note to employees he had been unfaithful to his wife. “To my colleagues at NVIDIA, including those I have worked alongside for decades, and to our board, partners, and shareholders around the world: you deserve better from me,” Huang’s email also said.

In recent days, the Financial Times and The New York Times reported that Huang had a relationship with a Chinese businesswoman named Alice Huang. A person with knowledge of the matter told NBC News that U.S. intelligence agencies had determined that Alice Huang was a Chinese spy. The two Huangs are unrelated.

China has dismissed the espionage allegations as a “smears.” The company where Alice Huang allegedly works, Megaspeed, did not…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business