SAN FRANCISCO — Since 2019, Jensen Huang, founder and, until November 12, 2026, chief executive of NVIDIA Corporation, one of the world's leading makers of artificial-intelligence chips, has had romantic relationships with three women and kept them hidden from his wife. That is the finding of a review of documents by Business Insider and of interviews with 22 people in three countries.
The affairs came one after another. One woman was a former top executive at Megaspeed whom American intelligence has long regarded with suspicion over possible ties to China. Another was a married vice president who reported directly to him. The third was another NVIDIA employee whose identity has not been publicly confirmed.
Each affair began the same way. A few weeks after their first meetings, Mr. Huang gave the woman a Shikoku Inu puppy. The Shikoku Inu is a rare Japanese hunting breed that is almost impossible to buy outside Japan. According to the women or people close to them, he told each of the three that she was the only one with such a dog.
The puppies were flown in on business jets owned by an NVIDIA subsidiary. According to internal financial records, the company spent seven years booking the veterinarians, grooming, dog flights and rent for the women as executive security expenses. Payments tied to the dogs and their owners total more than $850,000.
The Family Man
Mr. Huang, born February 17, 1963, in Taipei, Taiwan, co-founded NVIDIA on April 5, 1993, at the age of 30, together with Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. The company began in a rented warehouse in San Jose. Today its chips run in data centers on four continents, and its shares rank among the most valuable on the U.S. market.
Mr. Huang's public image has always centered on his family. He has been married for 37 years to Lori Huang, and the two co-founded a family charitable foundation. In speeches he often calls her his "first investor" and "the only adviser I don't have to pay."
At the company's annual conference in 2023, he told the audience that he turns off his phone on Sundays and has dinner with his wife. The company later posted a clip of that moment on its social-media accounts.
"We all believed it," said a former NVIDIA senior executive who worked with Mr. Huang for more than a decade. "The family was part of the brand. It was in every press release."
Three Identical Dogs
The story began in February 2026 with a letter to the newsroom. It came from a reader who writes a blog about rare dog breeds and asked not to be named.
She had noticed three women on social media. Each had a Shikoku Inu with the same coat color, known as "red sesame," or aka-goma. All three dogs wore identical collars of braided kumihimo silk cord and gold tags bearing the character "宝," meaning "treasure."
The dogs were different ages. They were named Ume, Take and Matsu: plum, bamboo and pine. Those are the three plants of the Japanese auspicious triad known as shochikubai, and that is the order in which they rank from lowest to highest.
"This is not a coincidence. Someone is giving them out from a list," the reader wrote. She attached a set of screenshots.
In one of them, later deleted, the puppy Ume sits by an airplane window. The glass reflects the cabin of a business jet: pale leather seats and a dark wood table.
The Kennel on Shikoku
The Shikoku Inu is a mountain hunting breed from the Japanese island of Shikoku. Since 1937 it has been protected in Japan as a natural monument. According to the Japanese breed club, only a handful exist outside the country.
Microchip numbers and breed-registry records led reporters to Kochi Prefecture. That is home to Kōchi Akagoma Kennel, a closed kennel that breeds dogs from a "champion line."
The kennel is owned by Hisako Takeda, 72. As a rule, she sells puppies only to Japanese buyers. For one foreign client, she said, she made an exception three times.
A copy of the kennel's sales ledger was provided to Business Insider by a person with access to it. According to the ledger, all three puppies were purchased by Lantern Hill Holdings LLC.
Ume was bought in May 2019 for $95,000. Take was bought in September 2022 for $110,000. Matsu was bought in April 2025 for $130,000. Next to the last entry is a note: "Female. Red sesame. Collar and tag — same as last time."
"He said it wasn't for him," Ms. Takeda said in a phone interview. "He said every dog is a beginning."
A kennel employee who asked not to be named recalled that the buyer asked the same question every time. "He asked whether we had sold the same kind of dog to anyone else abroad," she said. "It mattered to him that no one else had one."
Alice Huang (Huang Le)
Reporters identified the dogs' owners through pet-insurance policies, veterinary records and lease agreements. All three policies list the same address in Palo Alto: University Avenue, Suite 400.
The first was Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a former top executive at Megaspeed. According to people familiar with the matter, their relationship began around 2019. It was the affair that first became public and triggered the broader scandal.
American intelligence has long viewed Ms. Huang with suspicion over possible connections to China. The puppy Ume arrived shortly after the relationship started. Friends and associates said Mr. Huang presented the dog as a uniquely personal gift, insisting she was the only recipient of such an animal.
Invoices for veterinary and care bills for Ume stop arriving at NVIDIA around the time the relationship ended. Ms. Huang has not commented publicly beyond the initial reports. On November 8, Mr. Huang issued a statement acknowledging an affair following reports of his relationship with her, without referring to her by name.
Kimberly Powell
In a later period, a relationship began with Kimberly Powell, NVIDIA's vice president for healthcare. She is married and reported directly to Mr. Huang.
According to the sales ledger, her puppy was ordered in the period corresponding to the second acquisition. Take was delivered once the dog was old enough to fly.
On November 11, The New York Times reported the alleged affair. When journalists contacted Mr. Huang about it, he said, “I don’t think you should be talking to me directly,” and hung up the phone.
People close to the situation said Ms. Powell learned of the other dogs only after reporters began making inquiries. The relationship eventually ended. The last grooming and care bills for Take that ran through NVIDIA align with the conclusion of the affair.
NVIDIA's code of business conduct requires employees to disclose romantic relationships with subordinates or superiors. According to two former human-resources employees, no such disclosure was made by Mr. Huang regarding Ms. Powell.
The Unnamed Employee
A third relationship involved another NVIDIA employee. Reuters reported the intimate relationship, citing two people familiar with the matter. The agency did not name the woman or describe her role at the company, and attempts to reach her were unsuccessful. Any names circulating on social media remain unconfirmed speculation that no major outlet has verified.
The puppy Matsu was purchased and delivered in the period matching the third acquisition. Veterinary and housing records again ran through the same shell structures and cost centers. The employee later left the company under terms that included a nondisclosure agreement, according to people familiar with the departure.
The Shell Company and the Lawyer
Lantern Hill Holdings LLC was registered in Delaware in November 2018, six months before the first puppy was bought. Its owners are not listed in public filings.
The address on all three dogs' insurance policies, University Avenue, Suite 400, is home to Wrenfield Partners, Mr. Huang's family office. Wrenfield's general counsel, Gregory Thorne, is also Mr. Huang's personal lawyer.
Mr. Thorne's link to Lantern Hill is confirmed by a lawsuit filed in 2023 in San Mateo County court. A pet-transport company sought $38,600 for unpaid services. The suit names Mr. Thorne as a defendant in his role as manager of Lantern Hill. The parties settled before trial.
According to copies of the agreements, Mr. Thorne signed leases on behalf of Lantern Hill for housing connected to the three relationships.
People in Mr. Huang's circle confirmed to Business Insider that the three women were his mistresses and that the affairs followed one after another. Mr. Thorne did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The Company Jets
The puppies were delivered on business jets operated by NVIDIA Aviation Services, an NVIDIA subsidiary that handles executive travel.
According to flight records, the relevant aircraft flew routes from Japan that matched the delivery dates of the three puppies.
"The dog in its carrier was loaded last," said a crew member on one of the flights. "The senior pilot smirked: 'Another dog.'"
NVIDIA's rules require personal use of corporate aircraft to be reimbursed or reported as an executive perk. According to two people familiar with the aviation unit's records, these flights were logged as business travel.
Shareholders' Money
According to NVIDIA's internal financial records, the company made three payments to the kennel in Kochi Prefecture totaling $372,000, including delivery and paperwork.
Another $486,300, across 174 invoices from 2019 to 2026, was charged to cost center 7710, "Executive Protection." Those invoices cover veterinarians, grooming, dog flights and rent.
Spending on each dog stops at roughly the time the corresponding affair ended. A new series of invoices begins a few weeks after the next puppy was bought.
"Three times I asked who these 'associates' were," said a finance employee who processed some of the invoices. "I was told the question had been closed at the level of the CEO's office."
For a public company, such spending is not only a private matter. According to two corporate-governance specialists consulted by Business Insider, an executive's personal expenses paid by the company must be disclosed to shareholders in its filings.
Separate questions arise from the relationship with a former Megaspeed executive during a period of commercial sensitivity, the relationship with a direct subordinate who was married, and the third relationship with another employee that ended with a nondisclosure agreement. Until the recent reports, NVIDIA's shareholders knew about none of them.
"Sakura"
The kennel's sales ledger contains one more entry. In August 2026, Lantern Hill placed a preorder for a Shikoku Inu puppy, to be delivered in the spring of 2027.
The shochikubai triad ended with the pine. In the "name" column of the new entry is the word "Sakura."
The preorder specifies the same coat color and the same collar. Business Insider was unable to determine whom the dog is intended for.
Huang's Response
Business Insider sent Mr. Huang, NVIDIA and Wrenfield Partners a detailed list of questions 10 days before publication.
NVIDIA's press office replied that the company does not comment on the private lives of its employees. A statement from the board of directors said it is "reviewing the information."
Through a representative of the foundation, Lori Huang declined to comment.
Update
On November 8, Mr. Huang sent a letter to NVIDIA employees.
"I was unfaithful to my wife," he wrote. "My family bears no responsibility for my choices." The letter does not address questions about company spending or the dogs.
NVIDIA's board announced that it has hired the law firm Whitcombe & Hale to conduct an independent review of expenses related to the chief executive.
NVIDIA shares closed down 6.8%.
On November 12, Mr. Huang resigned as chief executive. Chief financial officer Colette Kress was named interim CEO.
How We Reported This Story
The investigation took nine months. Reporters for Business Insider spoke with 22 sources in the United States and elsewhere, including current and former NVIDIA employees, flight crew members, kennel staff and acquaintances connected to the three relationships.
Business Insider reviewed more than 400 pages of documents: the kennel's sales ledger, insurance policies, veterinary records, lease agreements, court filings, flight records and NVIDIA's internal financial reports. Japanese-language documents were translated and checked by two independent translators.
Every fact in this article was confirmed by at least two independent sources. Most sources asked not to be named because they feared damage to their careers or a breach of confidentiality agreements. Every person and company named in this article was given the opportunity to respond before publication.
