Chips and Secrets #1884

In this episode, Ray Cochrane leads with Nvidia’s board investigating reports that Chinese intelligence targeted CEO Jensen Huang. The same day, Huang told employees he had been unfaithful to his wife. Additionally, he covers the Justice Department’s Super Intelligence Task Force and the fake job interview behind Binance’s $6.3 billion crypto Heist. He also gets to a Sega hack that darkened arcades across Japan and the fall of NASA’s Swift telescope.

– Want to start a podcast? It’s easy to get started! Sign up at Blubrry – Thinking of buying a Starlink? Use my link to support the show.

Subscribe to the Newsletter. Email Ray if you want to get in touch! Like and Follow Geek News Central’s Facebook Page.

Support my Show Sponsor: Best Godaddy Promo Codes Get 1Password

Full Summary

Ray Cochrane opens with a quiet personal update. He had a relaxing weekend, spending Friday and Saturday night with Grandma and Delaney. They went out to dinner together and just hung out.

In his free time, Cochrane is building a new podcasting tool in Rust. So far, the recording API works, along with some diagnostics and debugging tools. After so much time in PHP, he calls it a breath of fresh air.

On the audio side, he noticed the mic was still picking up some feedback last episode. He hasn’t rewired the studio yet, and he isn’t sure which device causes the static. Meanwhile, he is adjusting settings and slowly working through the knobs while keeping the voice quality up.

Nvidia’s Board Investigates Its CEO

The lead story comes from CBS News. On November 8, it reported that Nvidia’s board opened an investigation involving its own CEO. Nvidia designs the chips that much of the AI industry runs on. The board says it is examining news reports that co-founder and CEO Jensen Huang “has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.”

The same day, Huang sent employees a letter, which Nvidia posted on its news site. In it, he admitted he was unfaithful to his wife and apologized. The letter names no one. Its only nod to the spy reports points to the board’s independent investigation, which Huang says he supports.

Independent directors, board members who aren’t company executives, will lead that investigation with outside counsel. So nobody who reports to Huang is running it, which Cochrane counts as good news. The board adds that it has “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.”

Huang stays on as CEO. From what Cochrane has heard, most people like working under him, so he finds the news tragic.

How the Story Broke

The story broke on October 29 in The New York Times. The paper reported that a businesswoman named Alice Huang had grown close to Jensen Huang. According to the Times, US intelligence officials had concluded she was passing information to Beijing. Despite the shared last name, the two aren’t related.

The Times described her as an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore company that buys Nvidia chips. It also said President Trump was briefed