Nvidia CEO’s daughter cancels planned visit to S. Korea
Seoul: A planned visit to South Korea by Madison Huang, a senior director at Nvidia Corp. and the daughter of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang, has been abruptly canceled, sources said.
The younger Huang had planned to visit South Korea on Sunday to attend the “Nvidia AI Day Seoul 2026” event, set for Monday and Tuesday at the COEX exhibition centre in southern Seoul, and meet with South Korean government officials.
But her scheduled trip is believed to have been abruptly called off due to family issues, the sources said, without disclosing details, reports Yonhap news agency.
Some industry observers speculate the cancellation may have been influenced by foreign news reports saying that U.S. intelligence officials believe a woman who had a close relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was a spy working for China.
Despite Huang’s absence, the Nvidia-hosted event is expected to be held as scheduled, according to the sources.
Meanwhile, three US House committee chairmen have asked Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang to explain his contacts with a businesswoman reportedly linked to Chinese intelligence and the company’s safeguards against espionage.
The lawmakers requested a joint, closed-door briefing on November 18. Their letter, dated November 4 and publicly released on Thursday, asks Huang to accept the proposed date or offer an alternative congressional session date by November 11.
The request concerns Alice Huang, an executive associated with Singapore-based Megaspeed, and allegations that she passed information to Beijing. The letter is a request for an appearance, not a subpoena.
The three lawmakers House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, all Republicans, sought details of Huang’s interactions with Alice Huang and Nvidia’s procedures for protecting against espionage by foreign adversaries.
“It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which U.S. national security has been placed at risk,” the chairmen wrote.
Nvidia responded by defending its chief executive’s dealings with customers. In a statement to CNBC, the company said regional cloud customers received routine commercial information, rather than sensitive trade secrets or information relevant to national security.
“Meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year,” the spokesperson said.
The company also expressed confidence that US authorities would alert it if they considered someone a threat to American industry.