SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Nvidia’s independent directors have appointed former federal prosecutor Joon H. Kim to investigate reports that the company’s co-founder, Jensen Huang, became the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The inquiry now centers on a former CEO: Huang resigned Thursday, two days after Nvidia announced Kim’s appointment.
The board retained Kim and his firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, on Nov. 10. Nvidia said a committee of independent directors would oversee the investigation and examine all available information. The board said it had no reason to believe that anyone had compromised U.S. national security or Nvidia’s trade secrets. It has not announced a deadline for Kim’s review or said whether it will publish the findings.
The probe follows reports about Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman who is not related to him. U.S. officials reportedly suspected she had ties to Chinese intelligence. Her company, Singapore-based Megaspeed, also faced scrutiny over allegations that it helped route restricted Nvidia chips to China. Those reports have not established that Jensen Huang knew of any intelligence activity or that the company’s secrets were compromised.
Nvidia announced Thursday that Huang had resigned as CEO and a board member, effective immediately. The company named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress interim CEO. Nvidia has not said that the investigation prompted Huang’s departure or explained the decision.
Kim brings experience in federal prosecutions, corporate investigations and workplace misconduct reviews. He joined Wachtell in 2026 after serving as a partner at Cleary Gottlieb. Earlier, he spent more than a decade in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where he held senior posts, including deputy U.S. attorney and chief of the criminal division. He served as acting U.S. attorney from March 2017 to January 2018.
In 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James appointed Kim and employment lawyer Anne Clark to investigate sexual harassment allegations against then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Their report concluded that Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women and that his administration retaliated against a former employee who raised concerns. Cuomo denied the allegations.
Kim also led an independent review of workplace culture at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The agency’s board selected his team in 2023 to investigate allegations of sexual harassment and other misconduct and examine how the agency handled complaints.
Nvidia’s investigation faces questions that reach beyond executive conduct. The allegations touch on export controls, the movement of advanced AI chips to China and whether the company’s oversight systems caught potential risks. A shareholder lawsuit filed this week also accused Nvidia and Huang of misleading investors about the relationship and its possible business and national-security implications; those claims remain unproven.
Kim’s findings could shape Nvidia’s response to those concerns as the company searches for a permanent CEO. The board has not said whether the review will address separate reports about Huang’s personal relationships or what actions it might take after the investigation.
