NEW YORK, Nov 9 — Chip giant Nvidia’s board announced yesterday it opened a probe into Chief Executive and co-founder Jensen Huang after he acknowledged an affair with a woman US officials say was working for Chinese intelligence.

Late last month, The New York Times reported that US intelligence officials concluded that the woman, a Chinese executive linked to a Singapore-based data center company called Megaspeed, had been funnelling information to Beijing.

The executive, Alice Huang — also known as Huang Le, and no relation to 63-year-old Taiwanese-born Jensen Huang — developed a close relationship with the Nvidia boss, the Times said.

In a message to company employees released yesterday, Huang acknowledged having an affair and apologised to both his family and company staff.