Nvidia CEO affair reignites calls for tougher US stance on China

Detailed summary

The scandal engulfing Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang could have its biggest consequences in Washington, where China hawks are seizing on the affair ...

WASHINGTON, Nov 11 — The scandal engulfing Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang could have its biggest consequences in Washington, where China hawks are seizing on the affair to push a hard line that had been put on the back burner under President Donald Trump.

Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and turned it into the world’s leading supplier of the processors that power artificial intelligence, admitted on Sunday to an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed whom US intelligence officials believe was working for Chinese intelligence.

Trump, who has relied on Huang as an adviser on AI, called him “an honorable guy” and said Huang told him he had no idea the woman was a spy.

Huang has spent years lobbying against curbs on sales of advanced AI chips to China, and Trump last year cleared Nvidia’s H200 chips for export there over objections from hawks in both parties.

“China hawks in policy circles in Washington DC were quite frustrated with the decisions and really wanted to see a more aggressive approach around export controls to China,” said Aalok Mehta of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Many in Washington see the United States as locked in a Cold War-style race with China for technological and military dominance, and these hawks have bristled at Trump not conforming to that.

“What we are heading into is one of the most serious investigative efforts in a substantial period,” said Kurt Campbell, a former US deputy secretary of state and co-founder of consultancy The Asia Group.

Lawmakers will want to know when the government learned of the alleged links, whether the president was warned and whether the contacts shaped his China policy, Campbell said.

The New York Times has reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the allegations to Trump in May, but the president chose not to act.

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