While Nvidia has launched an independent investigation into bombshell reports that Chinese intelligence targeted CEO Jensen Huang—and that Huang had an affair with an alleged Chinese spy—early indications suggest that the company’s board may be unwilling or unable to challenge the rockstar CEO.

On October 29, when The New York Times first reported that US intelligence had concerns about Huang’s contacts with Alice Huang, a former top executive at Singapore-based data center firm Megaspeed, the company characterized the relationship as an ordinary business matter and said it didn’t share classified information with customers.

The board did not announce an investigation until 10 days later, after Huang acknowledged the affair in a memo to staff, emphasizing that it “has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised.” And before the investigation even started, the board had already said it had “confidence in Jensen and his leadership team.”

The announcement also framed the investigation as focused on national security, without mentioning whether it would address potential concerns about Huang’s judgment or conduct as an executive.

Fast Company reached out to Nvidia for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Indeed, there may be little Nvidia’s board can do to punish Huang without seriously risking the company’s business, which has become inextricable from Huang himself.

Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has spent more than three decades transforming it from a maker of graphics chips into a dominant force in the artificial intelligence boom.

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