Trump says Jensen Huang should stay on as Nvidia CEO: ‘I haven’t heard he’s done anything wrong’

“I take full responsibility for what I did and the hurt I caused, and I accept the criticism that comes with it,” Huang said, adding that he supports the investigation. “I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America’s national security.”

The announcement comes after reports Huang had a close relationship with a woman named Alice Huang, who U.S. intelligence officials believe was working for the Chinese government.

When asked about the affair, Trump called Huang a “fine person,” and said he thinks he should remain the head of Nvidia.

“I have not spoken to him about it,” Trump told reporters on Nov. 8, before returning to Washington. “I just know he’s a fine person, but you never know what is going on…He’s done such an incredible job…He’s a fine person in my opinion.”

Trump was reportedly briefed roughly a year ago that a woman with ties to Huang was a Chinese spy but did not act on the intelligence. The president stood by his decision not to act and called the Nvidia CEO an “honorable guy.” He also said he would still be willing to take Huang on his upcoming trip to Asia.

“I haven’t heard he’s done anything wrong,” the president told reporters.

Alleged foreign intelligence

Nvidia’s investigation comes after a New York Times (NYT) exclusive published on Oct. 29 claimed a top executive at a Singapore-based data center company tied to Nvidia was possibly directing its AI chips to China.

Several U.S. outlets have reported that American officials believed Alice Huang, who has no relation to the Nvidia CEO, was an intelligence asset who was sending information to Beijing and helping smuggle advanced AI chips to China.

Nvidia had previously defended Mr. Huang’s relationship to Ms. Huang, telling the NYT that the CEOs interactions with Ms. Huang were “not unusual or unexpected,” and that “meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year.”

The company also said it was confident the U.S. government would notify Nvidia if it “believes that any person is a threat to American industry.”