Trump appears to have known about alleged spying on Nvidia CEO

Left: US President Donald Trump after disembarking from Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Oct. 10, 2026. (AP/Yonhap) Right: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks at Computex Taipei in Taiwan on June 1, 1016. (EPA/Yonhap)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair is snowballing into a controversy, calling into question US President Donald Trump’s ability to respond to national security risks, as reports emerge claiming that the Trump administration was aware in advance of Huang’s relationship with an alleged Chinese spy, yet took no significant action. 

Trump commented on Huang’s scandal when speaking with journalists at West Palm Beach on Sunday, saying, “I think he’s an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it. You have to hear it. He’s done an amazing job for our country.”

“I haven’t heard he’s done anything wrong. He dealt with somebody, but, you know, so does everybody else,” he added.

When asked if he regretted not acting on the intelligence when he was briefed about the alleged spying last year, Trump said, “No, I don’t think so.”

Trump also seemed optimistic about Huang joining him on his trip to Asia next week. 

“So does everybody else”: Trump speaks in Huang’s defense

When did the White House find out about this, and what does it know? The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the drafting of a highly classified memo detailing that Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-registered data center operator, had been recruited by China’s spy agency and approached the Nvidia CEO. 

This document was relayed to high-ranking administration officials in May, ahead of Trump’s visit to China. The New York Times reported that, according to a prior report, Trump had been briefed on Alice Huang and her potential connection to China’s intelligence services, but had not taken any action. 

Jensen Huang did not even receive a defensive briefing from the US government, which would have alerted him to the fact that he was potentially being targeted by China’s intelligence services.

At the time, American authorities believed that Jensen Huang was unaware of Alice Huang’s status as a spy. 

Despite that being the case, Jensen Huang joined Trump’s economic delegation to China at the very last minute in May. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state dinner at the White House in September, the CEO sat at the head table alongside his wife, Lori Huang, and other key figures. In October, he even received the National Medal of Science from Trump. 

However, it has not been confirmed whether he was excluded from the China delegation due to concerns raised by intelligence agencies. When asked about the issue, Rubio stated that he couldn’t “comment because of the nature” of it.

Jensen Huang: A long proponent for easing China export restrictions

This case has escalated into a national security issue because it is closely tied to export restrictions on advanced semiconductors to China. The New York Times reported that US intelligence assessed that Alice Huang was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security to obtain more information about the Nvidia CEO and to potentially influence Nvidia to ensure that its most advanced chips were accessible to China. 

Jensen Huang has also long advocated for easing export restrictions, arguing that supplying US technology to the Chinese market is the only way to curb China’s independent semiconductor development and maintain US competitiveness. 

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivering a keynote presentation at the Nvidia GTC AI conference on March 18, 2025. (AFP/Yonhap)

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun refuted allegations in October, saying that the “relevant report is unsubstantiated,” and that it is “nothing but smears against China.”

The US Congress is also speeding up its response. Republican Rep. Brian Mast, the chairperson of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. John Moolenaar, the chairperson of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party, and Rep. Rick Crawford, the chairperson of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, have requested that the Nvidia CEO attend a closed-door joint briefing on Nov. 18 to explain his relationship with Alice Huang and Nvidia’s counterintelligence and security measures. 

“The more I learn about the insane relationship between the Trump administration, Chinese spies, and AI billionaires, the more I’m convinced there is nothing this administration does that isn’t corrupt. Congress will investigate and get answers,” Democrat Sen. Chris Coons stated in a post uploaded to X, formerly known as Twitter.

The controversy has also brought Nvidia’s key-person risk into focus, as the company’s management system relied heavily on CEO Jensen Huang and him alone. For more than 30 years, Huang has led the company, driven major decisions and received direct reports from approximately 60 executives.

However, the company has yet to publicly disclose its succession plan or name a clear successor.