Nvidia's board has launched an independent investigation into chief executive Jensen Huang after he admitted on Sunday to a relationship with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer, according to The Next Web.

The admission comes amid reports linking Alice Huang to suspected Chinese espionage activity. TechRadar reported that the Nvidia chief apologized, saying "I am deeply sorry," as coverage characterized the relationship as a suspected honeypot operation — a scenario in which a personal relationship is allegedly used to gain access or influence.

The situation puts the board of the world's most prominent AI chipmaker in an unusual position: investigating its own co-founder and CEO, whose leadership has been central to Nvidia's rise to the top of the semiconductor industry. The involvement of a customer-side executive adds a corporate-governance dimension beyond the personal conduct question, since dealings between Nvidia and Megaspeed could come under review.

Key open questions include the investigation's scope, who conducts it, and whether US authorities take any formal interest given the espionage allegations. Neither the timeline for the probe nor any interim changes to Huang's role has been detailed in the initial reports.