Nvidia has hired one of the largest law firms in the US to investigate the affair between its own chief executive and an alleged Chinese spy.
Jensen Huang, who co-founded the tech company, has admitted to having a romantic relationship outside of his marriage. The woman, Alice Huang, is alleged to be a spy for Beijing.
Nvidia said on Tuesday that it had hired New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, and that its attorney Joon Kim would lead “a thorough and independent investigation”. The FBI is also conducting its own probe.
The company’s share price has fallen almost to a yearly low, with $500bn (£375bn) wiped of its stock market value since Friday.
Nvidia is widely considered one of the most important companies behind the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, given it is the sole manufacturer of a computer chip used in AI tools.
It is the world’s second most valuable company after Apple and its chips have become a matter of national security for US officials who are keen to win the AI race.
Alice Huang, who is also known as Huang Le, and is not related to Jensen Huang, was an executive at Singaporean company Megaspeed, which has been a customer of Nvidia.
Megaspeed had been suspected of helping divert Nvidia chips to China, a concern that Nvidia has said was investigated and debunked.
Nvidia has also maintained that the US government did not inform it that Megaspeed posed an intelligence concern.
