Nvidia has hired Wachtell to investigate Jensen Huang. Check that the inquiry has started, not that secrets or national security have been shown to be compromised

The New York Times reported on Nov. 10, 2026, that Nvidia has hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate chief executive Jensen Huang's affair with a Chinese executive. The Times's public share preview names Wachtell partner Joon H. Kim, a former acting U.S. attorney, as the person leading the inquiry.

This desk could not read the full Times article. The site refused the request for the full text. The headline, summary, authors Lauren Hirsch and Kalley Huang, and the Nov. 10 date were confirmed from the Times's own public share preview. The board's wording, and the Sunday statements that the hire is meant to carry out, come from CNBC's report the same day.

The checkable event is the hiring of the law firm. It is not a finding that company secrets or U.S. national security were compromised.

CNBC reported that Nvidia's board said on Tuesday it had hired the firm to investigate Huang and whether company secrets or national security was compromised, after Huang admitted to an affair with a woman who has been connected to Chinese intelligence. The board's statement, as quoted by CNBC, said the independent members had retained Kim and his firm "to conduct a thorough and independent investigation as was announced on Sunday."

That Sunday announcement, again according to CNBC, had two parts. The board said it would investigate allegations that Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence effort. It also said it had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised.

Huang admitted the affair in an email to staff on Sunday, CNBC reported. "My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did," he wrote, while emphasizing that he is an American and supports U.S. national security. A company representative said at the time that Huang was committed to continuing as CEO without interruption.

The choice of lawyer is documented in the same CNBC report. Kim joined Wachtell last month. He was previously the chief U.S. prosecutor in Manhattan, according to Law360, which CNBC cites. The Times preview is consistent with that, calling him a former acting U.S. attorney.

The market reaction is also from CNBC. The stock dropped 6% on Tuesday after falling more than 4% on Monday, as investors worried the investigation and scandal could result in the co-founder and CEO being forced out. That is a price move and a reported investor worry. It is not evidence of a leak.

On the underlying allegations, CNBC says that over the past few weeks the Times and the Financial Times have reported that U.S. intelligence agencies surveilled an Asian technology executive, Alice Huang, affiliated with Nvidia customer Megaspeed, and that these agencies have concluded she is passing information to Beijing and is involved with Chinese intelligence. Those remain reported conclusions by intelligence agencies, as relayed by newspapers. They have not been established in a court or in a completed board inquiry.

The main gap is the Times article itself. Without the full body, this piece cannot say what exclusive reporting, if any, the Times added beyond the hire and Kim's role. Readers should treat the Times URL as the original report of the hire, and treat the quotes and stock figures here as coming from CNBC.

Other open questions are already in the board's own words. The Sunday statement said the board had no reason to believe secrets or national security were compromised. The Tuesday hire is how that inquiry is being staffed. Until Kim and the independent directors produce findings that can be compared with that Sunday sentence, the case has not been proved or disproved.

The company's representative said Huang would remain CEO without interruption. That is a statement of intent, not a guarantee.

A fair reading in the company's favor is clear. After a weekend admission and a national-security allegation, a board that wants to be taken seriously would hire outside counsel with prosecutorial experience and announce it. Wachtell is a firm often used for board-level investigations. Kim's recent arrival at the firm does not by itself weaken the hire. The announcement also makes clear that independent directors, not the CEO, are retaining the lawyers.

The cost of getting this wrong runs both ways. If the inquiry later finds that information or export-control compliance was compromised, the Sunday reassurance will look premature, and Huang's hold on the job will be harder to defend. If the inquiry finds no such compromise, a long political and market reaction will have been built on allegations that did not hold. In the meantime, the fight in Congress over chip exports is already moving on a separate track. That is a legislative question, not a substitute for what this investigation can show.

Over the next six months, the test is specific. Watch whether the independent investigation produces findings that can be checked against the board's Sunday claim that it had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, and whether Huang remains CEO as the company said he would. Hiring Wachtell and Kim is the start of that process, not the result.

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