Nvidia CEO becomes AI meme fodder as affair scandal goes global
TAIPEI (TVBS News) — The scandal engulfing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) has become viral fodder across Asia, with AI-generated videos and memes pairing the chipmaker's chief with alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang (黃樂) spreading rapidly on social media platforms from Seoul to Taipei.
Online users have deployed generative AI tools to insert the pair into iconic pop culture moments, including videos set to "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, "APT" by ROSÉ & Bruno Mars, and "Careless Whisper" by George Michael, according to posts circulating on X Wednesday (Nov. 11).
Other widely shared clips feature a parody of a viral Coldplay concert moment, an AI-generated dance video set to the 2011 K-pop hit "Trouble Maker," and a recreation of the elevator scene from "(500) Days of Summer" — dubbed "500 Days of Chip," Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
The Coldplay parody references a July 2025 incident near Boston, where a stadium's big screen caught the CEO of U.S. software company Astronomer embracing a female executive. Both were married to other people, and the clip became a worldwide meme; users have now swapped in AI-generated faces of the two Huangs.
Linguistic wordplay has also fueled the meme wave. In Korean, the word for "chip" (칩) is a single brushstroke away from "cheop" (첩), a word for mistress, a coincidence not lost on South Korean internet users mocking the CEO of the world's dominant AI chipmaker. Another satirical image features a foldable smartphone: when unfolded, Alice Huang appears leaning on Jensen Huang's other shoulder beside his wife.
The viral content follows Huang's admission on Sunday that he had been "unfaithful" to his wife. "I was unfaithful to my wife," Huang wrote in an email to Nvidia employees. U.S. intelligence officials believe Alice Huang was passing information to Beijing while developing a close relationship with the CEO, The New York Times reported on Oct. 29. China's foreign ministry has called the spy accusations "groundless."
Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation, hiring former federal prosecutor Joon H. Kim on Tuesday to examine whether national security or company secrets were compromised.
In Taiwan, Interior Minister Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) told legislators Wednesday that Alice Huang's visa has been revoked, permanently barring her from the country. "Her identity is that of a Chinese intelligence operative; she is a Chinese spy," Democratic Progressive Party legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said during a budget review session at Taiwan's parliament. "How do we prevent someone who enters on a business visa but is actually a Chinese spy?"
National Immigration Agency Director Lin Hung-en (林宏恩) told the committee that more than 60,000 Chinese nationals have entered Taiwan on business visas since March 2022. Minister Liu acknowledged screening limitations: "If we had known she was a spy, she obviously would not have been allowed in."
The meme wave comes as scrutiny intensifies in Washington. The FBI is examining whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, Reuters reported. Nvidia's stock has fallen 9.5% since the affair broke, shedding about US$430 billion (around NT$14.1 trillion) in market value.
Huang was back at Nvidia's Santa Clara, California, headquarters on Tuesday, conducting meetings ahead of quarterly earnings, CNBC reported. Employees described the mood as "sad."
Neither Nvidia nor Jensen Huang has addressed the viral AI-generated content. As of press time, Alice Huang's whereabouts remained unknown. ◼ (At time of reporting, US$1 equals approximately NT$32.84)