Shares of Nvidia have tumbled more than 5 per cent after the computer chip maker opened an investigation into reports that CEO Jensen Huang was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort”.

Nvidia’s announcement of the investigation followed Mr Huang’s acknowledgement that he had been intimate with a business executive who, according to The New York Times, US intelligence determined was gathering information for China.

China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the spying allegations as a smear campaign against Beijing.

Nvidia chips power many of the data centres and computing systems used to train and run AI models.

Its advanced processors have also been a focus of US export restrictions aimed at limiting China’s access to cutting-edge…