One of investors' biggest concerns is what would happen to Nvidia if Huang were dismissed. Fernandez claimed there was “no natural successor” to the chief executive.
Unlike the founders of other tech companies, Huang is subject to any manoeuvre the board of directors at Nvidia wants to make to get him out.
He owns only roughly 3.5% of the company, and Nvidia has a single-class voting structure, meaning his holding would not give him veto power over any decision made by the board.
But China has denied the claims, with its foreign ministry claiming "allegations about Chinese spies were 'entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China.
The company stated it had no reason to believe the firm's secrets or national security had been jeopardised but in a statement the board of directors said it would launch an investigation "in light of recent reporting that founder and chief executive Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort".
US intelligence authorities suspect Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, is a spy for Beijing, a New York Times story said.
The article added that in a memo last spring to senior officials in Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the leader of Nvidia was in an intimate relationship with a Chinese spy. In January, the Trump administration said it would allow the company to sell its H200 chips to Chinese customers under certain conditions.
