US President Donald Trump said the FBI is looking into Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who allegedly is a spy for Beijing, and that Huang told him he didn't know she was one.
Nvidia shares closed up more than 4% after the company's board launched an independent investigation into reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
Huang told employees he was unfaithful to his wife, without giving details, and the board says it trusts him. The New York Times reported that US intelligence assessed Alice Huang, a former manager at the Singaporean Mega Speed company, as a Chinese intelligence asset, and that Trump was informed of this and chose not to act.
China's Foreign Ministry called the spy's claims baseless. Shareholders filed a class-action lawsuit, and House Republican leaders asked Huang for a closed-door briefing on Nov. 18.