WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday that the FBI is investigating Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese government agent, but said he doesn’t think the executive who helped develop artificial intelligence has any reason to worry.
“I know the FBI is looking at this from another angle, and I think they’ll be in good shape,” Trump said during a White House briefing.
The sudden emergence of Huang’s infidelity has shaken America’s political class and technology sector, sparking new concerns about China’s ability to access cutting-edge chips designed by Nvidia that are powering the development of artificial intelligence.
Trump suggested the extraordinary step of directly involving himself in a counterintelligence investigation, a sign of his friendly relationship with Huang and possible geopolitical stakes.
“I talked to him today just to see if he’s feeling okay and how you’re doing,” Trump said. “He said he had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy.”
Trump is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week in Shenzhen, China, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, but he has not committed to addressing the situation with Xi.
“No, I don’t think so,” Trump said. “I mean, maybe. I’m sure President XI will ask me about it. I know Jensen very well. I just think he’s a very honorable man.”
China denied on Monday that it had tried to trap Huangsaying it espionage allegations were baseless and constituted a smear campaign against Beijing.
Huang admitted to having an intimate relationship with a company executive and apologized to his wife and the company in an open letter posted on Nvidia’s website. He did not name the woman.
Nvidia announced Sunday that it was conducting an independent investigation into reports that Huang was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort.”
The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence determined the woman was collecting information for Beijing.
“I support the investigation and will cooperate fully. I love our country and our company. I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting U.S. national security,” Huang said in his letter.
The investigation to determine whether from Nvidia The CEO was the target of foreign intelligence effort raises questions about the future of the company, which has become one of the world’s most valuable companies by providing the technology that has fueled the AI boom. Nvidia stock has lost about 11% of its value since last Wednesday.
Huang, famous for wearing a black leather jacket, has become synonymous with Nvidia since he co-founded it more than 30 years ago. He has a huge appetite for risk that transformed a company that made chips for gaming into a central player in AI. But with the Huang case and investigations, the company faces uncertainty about his possible successor and increased scrutiny of national security issues from members of Congress.
At a routine press briefing on Monday, a Chinese spokesperson rejected allegations that it had used the woman as a spy.
“The so-called allegation of Chinese espionage is unfounded. It is just slander against China,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Monday.
Beijing had previously rejected a New York Times report claiming that Huang had developed a close relationship with a Chinese citizen named Alice Huang, who ran a company that last year was accused of illegally shipping advanced Nvidia computer chips to China.
Nvidia shares fell about 5% in premarket trading early Monday.
The New York Times said Alice Huang was a former executive at a Singapore-based data center company called Megaspeed International, whose website prominently touts its partnership with Nvidia.
Many offices in Singapore were closed on Monday for the public holiday. Megaspeed and Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Nvidia is one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world, alongside Apple and Microsoft. Its sales of computer chips to China have at times been targeted by U.S. regulators seeking to limit Beijing’s access to the technology.
“The key questions are whether he was aware of espionage activities and whether confidential or strategically sensitive information was compromised,” said George Chen, partner and president of the digital practice at The Asia Group, a Washington-based consultancy.
“These questions require evidence rather than speculation,” he added in a text message to reporters.
Huang has lobbied Washington to relax limits on Nvidia chip sales to China in recent years, winning approval from U.S. President Donald Trump to sell its Nvidia chips. H200 chips this year. It is unclear whether Beijing would allow Chinese companies to purchase these chips in large quantities. Nvidia said in a regulatory filing in August that it had sold only a small quantity to China, with such sales restricted by the Chinese government.
The H200 chips aren’t Nvidia’s most advanced models, but they’re still advanced. Previously, Huang also lobbied Trump to be allowed to sell Nvidia’s less advanced H20 chips, designed to comply with US export restrictions to China.
Chinese media largely focused on Huang’s confession in the case and state media mostly echoed the official government line. Some said the New York Times report was intended to destabilize relations between the United States and China.
“Whenever Sino-US relations start to improve, there is often shooting from the shadows,” the state-run Global Times newspaper said.
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Chan Ho-him, Associated Press business editor in Hong Kong, contributed to this report.
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