US President Donald Trump has said that the FBI has launched a probe into Jensen Huang’s affair with a woman accused of working for Chinese intelligence, but stressed that he believes in the Nvidia chief’s innocence. Beijing has vigorously denied the spying claims.
On Monday, Nvidia, a US company which dominates the market for chips used to power AI, said that it started its own investigation into allegations that its founder and CEO was targeted in a Chinese intelligence ‘honeypot’ operation. Earlier in the day, Huang admitted to cheating on his wife, but didn’t name the woman he had been dating.
The New York Times and Financial Times reported previously that the 63-year-old tech entrepreneur had developed a romantic relationship with Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a Chinese executive formerly associated with the Singapore-based technology company Megaspeed International, who had allegedly been gathering data on Nvidia for China’s Ministry of State Security.
When asked about the scandal around Jensen Huang during a media briefing at the White House later on Monday, Trump said that “we’ll look into it. I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else. I think he will be in good shape.”
“I just hope there’s no problem. If there is a problem, we’ll let you know about it. But I hope there’s no problem,” he added.
The US president said that he had already discussed the situation with the Nvidia CEO, whom he described as “an amazing guy” and “a high-quality person.”
“He said: ‘I had no idea that she was a spy,’ and I really believe him,” he stressed.
Trump noted that he believes that Huang is “suffering greatly” due to the whole ordeal after reading the tech entrepreneur’s statement, in which he said that he was “deeply sorry” for hurting his wife and children.
Huang is seen as one of Trump’s closest allies in Silicon Valley as the president insists on the US winning the AI race against China. The Nvidia CEO accompanied Trump on a state visit to Beijing in May and was awarded the National Medal of Science last month.
Trump contradicted claims by NYT that he had been briefed on Huang’s affair and the security risks posed by it before the Chinese trip, but decided not to take any action on the information.
“Well, I’ve been hearing about it, and I’ve been reading a little bit about it over a period of time. But, not too long ago,” he said.
The US president was also asked if he’ll raise the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping at an APEC leaders’ summit in Shenzhen next week. “No, I don’t think so. Maybe, I’m sure, President Xi will ask me about it,” he replied.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun denied claims of Beijing collecting intelligence on Nvidia. “The so-called Chinese spy narrative is purely a groundless accusation, slander, and a smear,” he insisted.
Nvidia lost nearly $200 billion of market value after Huang acknowledged the affair and the company launched a probe against him.
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