Huang retained crisis firm Heller from October 2025 while Nvidia called his Megaspeed contacts routine

WIRED reports Jensen Huang has worked with Heller, a crisis communications firm whose founder is known for advising powerful men facing personal scandals, since at least October 2025. That is roughly when the New York Times first linked him to Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive, no known relation, whom US intelligence officials have reportedly determined is a Chinese government spy (NYT report). By that month’s end, Nvidia’s internal communications staff were reportedly told to loop Heller in on any press question about Huang, personal or professional.

On Sunday Huang told staff the relationship was romantic and apologized for being unfaithful. Nvidia had earlier described the interactions as routine client business. The board opened an independent investigation and says it has no reason to think national security or confidential information was compromised. Risa Heller previously worked for Rep. Jane Harman and as Sen. Chuck Schumer’s New York City press secretary; Nvidia’s head of public policy communications, John Rizzo, also worked for Schumer.

WIRED says it isn’t clear whether Heller’s early work involved the affair, and the firm also handles ordinary corporate and family matters. Hiring a crisis firm isn’t evidence of wrongdoing; plenty of executives keep one on retainer.

It does sharpen the gap between public line and private posture. For about a year Nvidia’s stance was routine business. In the same window, the CEO’s press inquiries were reportedly routed through a firm built on managing personal controversy. That proves no one lied, but it makes the independent review more important and raises the bar for it to be genuinely independent and published in some form. Governance experts have mapped the board’s legal pressure points (governance).

Megaspeed, per the reporting, split from a Chinese gaming and cloud company just after US export restrictions began, and a subsidiary became a major Nvidia customer while Commerce reportedly examined whether it helped Chinese firms evade controls (timeline). When AI’s most important chip supplier has a CEO entangled with someone intelligence officials call a spy, its governance is a national-security question, not just a shareholder one.

If reputational management routinely runs ahead of disclosure at systemically important AI companies, policy gets made on incomplete information. Events moved fast after this report: a second reported relationship (second report), a board meeting on his future (oust report) and his resignation (resignation). The board’s findings should come with enough detail for regulators and investors to judge for themselves. More in our Nvidia coverage and business coverage.