Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has publicly apologized to his wife, Lori, after admitting to an extramarital affair, as the company’s board investigates whether he was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
Jensen and Lori Huang have been married for more than 40 years. The couple met as students at Oregon State University in the early 1980s. Jensen later earned a master’s degree from Stanford University and co-founded Nvidia in 1993. It is now a multi-trillion-dollar tech company.
What has been reported?
In October 2026, The New York Times reported that US officials came to believe Huang had developed a close relationship with a businesswoman named Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le. According to the report, officials believe she was gathering information for the Chinese government. Her whereabouts aren’t known, and she couldn’t be reached for comment.
On Sunday, November 8, Nvidia said its board would launch an independent investigation into whether Huang had been “the target of a foreign intelligence effort.” The board said it has confidence in Huang and his leadership team, and he is remaining as CEO during the investigation.
Reports say no evidence links Huang himself to espionage, and the Times reported that officials initially didn’t believe he knew of the woman’s alleged activities. The investigation follows demands from three House Republicans that he answer questions about his interactions with her and Nvidia’s safeguards against foreign espionage.
What did Jensen Huang say?
In a company-wide email on November 8, which was also published on Nvidia’s website, Huang acknowledged the affair.
“I owe my family and all of you an apology,” he wrote. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did.”
He said he took “full responsibility” and would cooperate fully with the board’s investigation. “I love our country and our company,” he added. “I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America’s national security.”
Who is Jensen Huang’s wife Lori Huang
Lori Huang was born Lori Mills in 1961, according to Newsweek. Very little is publicly known about her childhood or family.
She studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University, where she met Jensen in the early 1980s. They were paired as lab partners in a first-year engineering course, and he was 17 and she was 19, according to Newsweek. Jensen recalled taking several months to gather the courage to ask her out, and he eventually promised to help her get top grades if she worked with him every Sunday. The couple married in 1985, which was reportedly five years after they had first met.
How did Jensen and Lori Huang meet?
The couple met at Oregon State University, where they were students in the same electrical engineering class. Huang later told The New Yorker he tried to impress her “not with my looks, of course, but with my strong capability to complete homework.”
They did homework together before he asked her on a date. After they graduated, they moved to Silicon Valley and worked as microchip designers. They married in 1985, and in 1993 Huang co-founded Nvidia with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem.
Lori Huang’s career
After graduating, Lori and Jensen both worked as microchip designers in Silicon Valley. Jensen has said she out-earned him in those years: “She actually made more than me,” he said in an interview.
Today she is best known for philanthropy. Lori is president of the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation, which IBTimes UK reports holds about $9.2 billion in assets and supports education, science, technology, and public health, though the outlet also notes questions over its transparency.
The couple established the Palo Alto-based foundation in 2007. In 2022, they donated $50 million to Oregon State University to create the Jen-Hsun and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex, and Newsweek reports they also gave the school an Nvidia supercomputer valued at about $25 million. It is also reports that she serves as co-trustee of the family trusts that hold much of Jensen’s Nvidia stake.
How has she supported her husband?
Her support has mostly been behind the scenes. When Jensen was deciding whether to leave his job at LSI Logic to co-found Nvidia in 1992 and 1993, Lori did not want him to resign unless co-founder Chris Malachowsky also left his job. Jensen has described her influence on his public image too. He has said she buys his signature leather jackets, CNN reports.
TechCrunch reported that at the 2024 SIGGRAPH conference he gave Mark Zuckerberg a jacket he said Lori had bought him to mark the event.
She frequently accompanies him at major industry and business events. About a week before his admission, Jensen was photographed with Lori and their daughter Madison in Paris, in pictures shared by their daughter..
Since the affair became public, Lori hasn’t commented. This is not surprising as she is known that she has kept a relatively low profile throughout the marriage.
What people are saying about Lori Huang
As news breaks out about the affair and the whole thing makes headlines, there seem to be a lot of attention directed at Lori Huang who otherwise tends to keep a low profile.
People are gathering in support of her over the affair, one person wrote about how authentic she looks, writing, “She actually looks like she’d be a fun and engaging lady. That’s an authentic smile!” Another person commented on her authenticity shining through in pictures, writing, “I think this is actually sad. You can tell she is authentically who she is, he is too. But he’s on another level. I hope they can find a way forward.”
While another wrote, alluding to her strength, “This girl is not that fragile.”
Jensen and Lori Huang kids
Madison Huang, 35, is the more publicly prominent of the couple’s two children and regularly appears alongside her father at major conferences. She started out in the culinary world, attending the Culinary Institute of America and later studying pastry and wine at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and worked as a chef in New York and San Francisco.
She later earned an MBA from London Business School, and joined Nvidia as an intern in June 2020. She is now the senior director of product and technical marketing for physical AI platforms. On her personal life, it is reported that she married Nico Caprez, a former professional ski racer and Nvidia executive, in Hawaii in September.
Their son, Spencer Huang, 36, has kept a lower public profile. HollywoodLife reports that he attended Columbia College Chicago, where he double-majored in international marketing and cultural studies, then moved to Taipei and opened a cocktail bar called The Cocktail Lab.
He later earned an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2022, and joined Nvidia the same year as an intern before moving into product management, according to VnExpress. He is now the director of product management for robotics.
Philanthropy work
In 2007, the couple co-founded the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation, which had more than $9 billion in assets in 2024, according to ProPublica. It focuses on STEM, education, and public health. In 2022, it gave Oregon State University $50 million to launch a research and education center focused on artificial intelligence and robotics.
The family has not made any comments on the entire situation. Share this with others who like to keep up to date with the latest stories.
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