Donald Trump, Elon Musk and prominent finance leaders have expressed support for embattled Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who is facing an internal investigation into an alleged romantic relationship with a Chinese businesswoman suspected of espionage.
Trump said he spoke with Huang on Monday, as the scandal reverberated across Silicon Valley and the head of the world’s most valuable chip company faced an uncertain future.
Trump said the FBI was “looking into” the issue but provided few details, adding that he believed Huang “will be in good shape.”
“I asked him that question: ‘Did you have any idea that she was a spy?’” Trump said during a White House briefing. “He said, ‘I had no idea that she was a spy,’ and I really believe him.”
The remarks came after Trump endorsed Huang over the weekend, saying he knew Huang was a “fine person” but that “you never know what is going on” and hoped “everything’s fine.” Trump called Huang an “honorable guy” and said he believed the CEO should remain in his position.
Huang’s defenders framed the affair as a personal lapse in judgment rather than evidence of treachery against the United States, which has restricted Nvidia’s chip sales to China.
Huang, who has been married to Lori since 1985, admitted in an email to employees on Sunday that he had an affair and would cooperate with an internal investigation. Nvidia’s board issued a statement that same day announcing a probe into reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
The chip executive allegedly had a relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman whom US intelligence services suspect of spying for the Chinese government, according to the New York Times. Trump was reportedly briefed on the relationship last year but took no action, the Times reported. Alice Huang and Jensen Huang are unrelated; Jensen Huang has been Nvidia CEO since 1993 and is one of the world’s richest people, with a net worth reported at more than $4tn.
US intelligence agencies believe Alice Huang, acting on behalf of Beijing, pushed Jensen Huang to lobby Trump for relaxed export controls on Nvidia’s sales in China, which he has done multiple times publicly. Nvidia said in a statement that neither trade secrets nor US national security had been compromised.
The affair and alleged intelligence operation could have far-reaching implications for Nvidia and the tech industry, which is already enduring high market volatility. Huang’s leadership of Nvidia, which is deeply intertwined with companies such as OpenAI, has long been viewed as crucial to the company’s success and stability.
As news of the scandal broke over the weekend, Musk and prominent investors shared their support. Musk posted “I agree” in response to prominent venture capitalist Shaun Maguire’s defense of Huang. Maguire argued the Nvidia CEO “did something incredibly dumb” but that he is “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of this generation.”
“Two mistakes don’t make a right, and I believe Jensen is irreplaceable for America’s AI leadership,” Maguire posted. He added, “Let’s also not nuke our AI industry because China ran a successful intel op.”
Bill Ackman, the US hedge fund manager and pro-Trump billionaire, suggested that Huang is “human” and deserves public support over the affair. “He is an incredible human. Even incredible humans make mistakes,” Ackman posted. “He takes full responsibility as he should. We should all support him and his family. Onward.”
Ackman later clarified that he was not suggesting Huang “gets a free pass,” but rather that he was “hoping for a simple affair, not a risk to our national security.”
China has denied allegations of an intelligence operation targeting Huang, with the Associated Press reporting that foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun rejected the allegations as “entirely baseless vilification and smearing.”
Nvidia and its chips have become integral to the AI boom in recent years, with hundreds of billions of dollars committed to projects such as datacenters and chip factories. In August, Nvidia agreed to provide a $105bn guarantee to help OpenAI lease an Ohio datacenter.
As Nvidia has grown in prominence, Huang has become one of the world’s richest people and most influential figures in technology. He has taken calls from Trump during company meetings and on stage at conferences, attended state dinners with the president, and accompanied him on a trip to China. Huang has also been a prominent voice on technology policy, including export controls on chips to China and open-source AI regulation.
Nvidia’s stock price fell on Monday as speculation swirled about the potential fallout from the affair. Shares of Nvidia, the second-most valuable company in the world, tumbled 4.2% and closed at their lowest level since 7 April as investors questioned Huang’s future.