Nvidia scandal: CEO admits to relationship with Chinese spy. The company launches an investigation, but Trump defends him
The powerful Jensen Huang is an ally of the president and the head of the chip giant that has long been in the sights of Beijing’s intelligence services
Nvidia’s board of directors has launched an investigation into Jensen Huang, the company’s chief executive and co-founder, after he informed the board that he had cheated on his wife and had an intimate relationship with a female executive identified by US intelligence as a Chinese spy. Huang’s relationship with the woman, named Alice Huang, has come under scrutiny from the US government, and the revelation has raised concerns, given that Huang is an ally of President Trump.
And indeed, Trump came to his ally’s defence. “I haven’t spoken” to Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, “he’s a good person, he’s done a fantastic job for our country”. said the president, emphasising that he would take him along on his trip to Asia, “but he doesn’t know if he’ll be coming”. Trump also said that Jensen Huang should remain at the helm of Nvidia as chief executive.
The Trump administration, however, was aware of the relationship between Jensen Huang and the Chinese spy-turned-manager, and it could hardly have been otherwise given the focus in recent years on the issue of Chinese espionage targeting the American hi-tech sector, in particular Nvidia’s chips, which are crucial to the development of artificial intelligence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in fact, oversaw the drafting of the confidential document in which senior administration officials were warned of the close ties between the CEO and the Chinese spy. This is reported by the New York Times, citing several sources, according to whom Rubio’s involvement demonstrates that concerns about the relationship were widespread amongst senior levels of the administration, given Huang’s closeness to Trump and the implications for national security.
For over a year, Nvidia Corp. has played down the links between its chief executive, Jensen Huang, and Megaspeed – a spin-off, initially little-known, of a Chinese company operating in the video games sector – as well as with a woman named Huang Le, who helped set it up.
Both Nvidia and Jensen Huang had described Megaspeed as a legitimate, albeit large-scale, purchaser of the artificial intelligence chips produced by Nvidia, despite the US government’s concerns that China might use the Singapore-based company to gain access to advanced semiconductors. Furthermore, they had described the relationship between Jensen Huang and Huang Le – also known as Alice Huang – as purely professional.
