K-AI Industry on Edge Amid Suspicion Allegations Against Jensen Huang
The investigation into allegations surrounding NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has spread to the U.S. Congress. The chairs of three U.S. House committees requested that Huang appear at a closed-door hearing on the 18th, in order to examine his relationship with Chinese national Alice Huang (a former executive of data center company Megaspree International) and the actual state of NVIDIA's internal screening systems designed to prevent foreign intelligence infiltration. The two are known to have first met at an NVIDIA annual event held in California in early 2024 and met again at Computex Taipei in July of the same year.
Legal risks are also mounting. According to the complaint filed on the 9th (local time) with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Rosen Law Firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of shareholders including Mark Kistenmacher against CEO Huang, seeking damages for violations of federal securities law. The plaintiffs argued that NVIDIA's stock price plummeted after the concealed facts came to light, causing substantial losses to shareholders, and demanded compensation.
Anxiety is also growing in Korea's AI industry, which depends on imports of graphics processing units (GPUs—semiconductors essential for AI development). Domestic companies such as Naver Cloud, KT, LG Uplus, and NHN Cloud are moving to build AI data centers (AIDCs) and expand GPU-based cloud infrastructure. As demand for AI services surges, securing high-performance GPUs has become a decisive factor in business competitiveness. Export control thresholds are the key issue.
There were also changes to the Korean schedule. Madison Huang, NVIDIA Senior Director and CEO Huang's eldest daughter, had originally planned to visit Korea on the 9th for a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon, but canceled the visit. However, the NVIDIA AI Day Seoul event and business agreements with SK Telecom and Rebellions proceeded as scheduled.
That said, no restrictions on GPU supply to Korea or suspension of existing cooperation have been confirmed so far. Ryu Jae-myung, Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT, stated at the National Assembly's Budget and Settlement Special Committee on the 9th that the 10,000 NVIDIA GPUs secured through last year's supplementary budget have already been introduced and are in use in Korea, and that volumes under contract for 2026 are expected to be supplied as planned.
