US Congress steps up scrutiny of Trump, Nvidia after Huang exit

Detailed summary

According to The Washington Post, Nvidia pledged $25 million toward the ballroom Trump is building at the White House, a few months after chip sales to China resumed. The company…

Key US lawmakers on Thursday called for clarity on what the Trump administration knew about Nvidia chief Jensen Huang's extramarital affair with a woman suspected of spying for China, after the AI chip giant announced his departure.

Huang, now Nvidia's former CEO, had pushed for looser rules on sales of US chips to China -- crucial in the AI race -- and the controversy has reenergized advocates of a hard line on Beijing, days before Donald Trump travels to China.

"Despite Jensen Huang's resignation, Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have put US national security at risk," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on social media.

"The Trump administration must also answer for what it did once it learned about Mr. Huang's relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset," he added.

Huang, a co-founder of the AI chip giant, on Sunday acknowledged an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed. The two are not related.

US intelligence suspects her of working for Beijing, which has strongly denied the allegations.

According to The New York Times, Trump was informed of the suspicions last year, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed them to him in May.

Trump said on Monday he knew "the FBI is looking into" the affair, adding that he expected Huang to be "in good shape." He said Huang had told him he did not know the woman was a spy.

Huang was ultimately brought down by the scandal on Thursday, when the company's board announced his departure, effective immediately.

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