President Trump defended Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as an “honorable guy” after the chip giant opened an investigation into the billionaire’s affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy.
“He’s done an amazing job for our country,” the president told reporters Sunday night, calling Huang an “honorable guy” and a “fine person.”
“I haven’t heard that he’s done anything wrong,” Trump added. “He dealt with somebody but, you know, so does everybody else.”
The remarks came hours after Nvidia’s board announced it had launched a probe into whether Jensen, 62, was “targeted by a foreign intelligence effort” through his relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based chip reseller Megaspeed. The two share a surname but are not related.
The company stressed it still has “confidence in Jensen and his leadership team” in a Sunday statement outlining the inquiry, which will be conducted by independent counsel and directors.
“While the Board has no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised, the Board’s inquiry will examine all available information,” the board wrote.
The investigation follows Jensen’s admission that he cheated on his wife Lori, whom he married in 1985. The couple have two children. It’s not clear how long the affair lasted, but Jensen and Alice Huang were photographed together at a Taipei bar in 2024.
Alice Huang allegedly was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security, according to a secret State Department memo overseen by Secretary Marco Rubio. The memo was reportedly based on electronic surveillance of her, reports said.
Despite the Trump administration knowing about the alleged honeypot operation, Jensen remained a key figure in swaying White House policy on artificial intelligence. The Biden administration had limited sales of high-end Nvidia chips to China amid the global AI race, but Jensen pushed the Trump administration to ease those constraints, arguing against tight export regulations.
Nvidia, now valued at roughly $4.5 trillion, produces the world’s most advanced AI chips and has become central to the global artificial intelligence boom. The company dominates the market for graphics processing units that power everything from ChatGPT to military applications.
Megaspeed, Alice Huang’s employer, purchased billions of dollars in AI chips from Nvidia and is now under investigation by US and Singaporean authorities. Officials accuse the firm of helping smuggle advanced Nvidia GPUs into China to circumvent American export restrictions on cutting-edge technology.
The dual investigations — into Jensen’s personal conduct and Megaspeed’s alleged sanctions evasion — have ensnared one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful executives at a moment when US-China technological competition has intensified.
Jensen’s access to the White House and influence over AI policy decisions have drawn scrutiny given the timing of the administration’s knowledge of the alleged intelligence operation. The State Department memo was months old by the time the president spoke out in Jensen’s defense.
The president’s comments Sunday night framed the affair as a common indiscretion rather than a potential national security vulnerability, a characterization that aligned with his broader pattern of defending allies facing personal scandals.
Nvidia’s board has not provided a timeline for completing its independent investigation.