Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang has admitted to an affair with a woman accused of spying for the Chinese government.

Alice Huang (no relation to Jensen) was an executive for Megaspeed, a Singapore-based IT and cloud company currently under investigation for smuggling Nvidia GPUs into China.

Last year, U.S. intelligence agencies surveilling Megaspeed and Alice Huang discovered a relationship with Jensen Huang, and believe she sought to illicit information from him as well as access to the chips. Megaspeed, which has bought more than $2 billion in Nvidia hardware, has denied involvement in chip smuggling.

When news of the then-unspecified relationship was published by The New York Times earlier this month, Nvidia's Huang called the story "groundless speculation," and claimed that "our relationship, our interactions, have been related to Megaspeed, and it was completely normal and not unusual."

A week later, after further reporting on the investigation, Jensen Huang admitted to the affair.

"I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry," he said in a letter to staff.

"Throughout my life, my family has given me love and support. They deserve my honesty and loyalty. Instead, I let them down and damaged the life we built together. I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I caused, and I accept the criticism that comes with it.

"To my wife and family: I love you. I know an apology cannot undo what I have done. I hope our family will heal and that, over time, I can earn back your trust."

Jensen Huang, perhaps the figure most singularly critical to the current AI boom, said that he remained "fully committed" to Nvidia.

His comments made no reference to the allegations of spying.

Nvidia's board said that it was initiating "an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort." The company added that it “has no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised; the Board’s inquiry will examine all available information.”

Jensen Huang, who has often appeared alongside US President Donald Trump at AI events, has openly lobbied to loosen trade restrictions with China to increase sales of Nvidia hardware in the mainland.

On Thursday, Congressional Republicans wrote to Jensen Huang requesting a closed-door briefing about the incident.

“Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the PRC’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information,” said Michigan Rep. John Moolenaar, who is also chairman of the House Select Committee on China.

“It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which US national security has been placed at risk."