President Donald Trump backs Jensen Huang to stay on as chief executive of Nvidia, calling him a “fine person” hours after the chipmaker’s board opened an independent investigation into the executive and Huang admitted an affair with a woman US intelligence agencies suspect of spying for China.
Speaking to reporters before returning to Washington, Trump said he had not discussed the allegations with Huang. “I have not spoken to him about it. I just know he’s a fine person, but you never know what is going on,” Trump said, according to Bloomberg. “I hope everything’s fine. He’s done such an incredible job.”
Asked directly whether Huang should keep his job, Trump answered: “I think so. Oh yeah, sure.” Asked whether he believed he should have acted on the intelligence when he was briefed about it roughly a year ago, Trump said: “No, I don’t think so. I think he’s an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it. You have to hear it.”
What Trump said
Trump’s backing came on the same day the story reached its most serious point yet. Nvidia’s board announced an independent investigation into reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, and Huang told staff in a message that he had been unfaithful to his wife and took “full responsibility” for his actions, CNN reported.
Trump also said he was open to taking Huang with him on his trip to Asia next week, according to the Associated Press, a trip that includes the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China. He has not spoken to Huang about the allegations, he said, and he described the executive’s record in glowing terms. “He’s done an amazing job for our country,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments put the White House publicly behind a chief executive whose company sits at the center of the global AI race, even as US intelligence agencies, Nvidia’s own board, and Congress are all examining the same relationship.
A crisis that unfolded in days
The episode began with a New York Times report on October 29 that US intelligence agencies had concluded Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International, was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security to gather information on Jensen Huang and potentially influence Nvidia to push its most advanced chips to China, as summarized in The Straits Times. Alice Huang is not related to Jensen Huang. GPTOnline covered the original allegation in our November 7 report.
Megaspeed, which rents computing power from Nvidia chips to Alibaba and other Chinese firms, is under federal investigation over accusations that it helped smuggle restricted Nvidia chips into China. The Justice Department has taken over that investigation. China’s embassy has called the allegations “smears.”
On November 6, the Financial Times reported that a memo circulating among US officials described a romantic relationship between the two. Two days later, the Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had personally overseen the drafting of a classified memo warning Trump administration officials about the relationship, as GPTOnline reported in our coverage of the Rubio memo.
That same day, Nvidia’s board announced its independent investigation, to be run by a committee of independent directors with outside counsel. The board said it had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised,” and Huang will remain chief executive during the review. GPTOnline covered the probe and Huang’s admission in our earlier report.
Why it matters
Nvidia is the pre-eminent maker of the advanced chips that power modern AI, and Washington has restricted sales of the most powerful ones to China since 2022. The company is worth about $4.5 trillion, and its shares have given up all their gains in 2026 amid a broader tech market rout driven by worries over the pace of AI spending, according to Reuters.
Few executives have had as much sway over Trump’s approach to AI and China as Huang. In 2025, Huang persuaded the president to roll back a ban on chip sales to China, and the two later struck a deal letting Nvidia sell its second-most-powerful chip there, with the US government taking a 25% cut of the sales. Nvidia has also donated at least $20 million to Trump’s ballroom fund.
Trump’s public defense also carries a personal dimension. Al Jazeera reported that Trump bought as much as $1.6 million in Nvidia stock and sold about $1 million in August, before the midterm elections. Huang, for his part, said on November 8 that he was “committed to protecting Nvidia and supporting America’s national security.”
What happens next
The Republican leaders of three House committees have asked Huang to appear at a closed-door briefing on November 18, and he has until November 11 to respond. The board has given no timeline for its own inquiry, saying only that it will provide further updates “as appropriate.”
Trump’s backing does not settle any of those inquiries, and it does not answer the central question the board and Congress are examining: what, if anything, Beijing learned through the relationship, and whether Nvidia’s security protocols failed. What it does settle, for now, is the question of whether the White House wants Huang to stay. The president’s answer was yes.
GPTOnline will update this story as the board investigation and the congressional inquiry develop.
Sources
- The Straits Times: Trump calls Nvidia’s Jensen Huang ‘fine,’ says he has not discussed allegations with him (Bloomberg)
- Bloomberg Tax: Trump Backs Nvidia CEO After Affair With Suspected China Spy
- The Straits Times: Nvidia opens probe into Jensen Huang report (Reuters)
- Jamaica Gleaner: Nvidia investigating reports that CEO Jensen Huang was targeted by Chinese intelligence (Associated Press)
- CNN: Nvidia launches investigation into CEO Jensen Huang over foreign intelligence concerns
- Al Jazeera: US chipmaker Nvidia investigates CEO Jensen Huang over affair
