Nvidia shares drop as board launches probe into CEO Huang
Nvidia shares fell 6.4% to $174.70 on Monday after the chipmaker's board launched an independent investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang had been targeted by foreign intelligence, Qazinform News Agency reports, citing Anadolu Agency.
The board announced the inquiry on Sunday after reports raised questions about Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at cloud company MegaSpeed. US officials reportedly suspect her of passing information to Beijing.
A committee of independent directors, supported by external legal counsel, will oversee the investigation. Nvidia said Huang supports the review and has pledged to cooperate.
Nvidia said there was currently no reason to believe that US national security or the company's confidential information had been compromised. The inquiry will nevertheless examine all available information, while the board expressed confidence in Huang and his leadership team. It also pledged to provide further updates as appropriate.
China rejected the accusations on Monday, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun describing them as baseless speculation and a smear during a regular briefing in Beijing.
The investigation has drawn attention to the leadership of one of the world's leading artificial intelligence companies. Nvidia's chips power much of the computing infrastructure used to develop and operate AI models.
The company is scheduled to release its third-quarter financial results on November 17.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had admitted to being unfaithful to his wife amid reports of an alleged foreign intelligence operation targeting him.