Trump Is Firmly in Jensen Huang s Corner

Our tech leaders’ personal scandals are now directing the future of the AI industry—and subjecting us all to potential economic downturns that affect our livelihoods. 

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is the subject of probes by the FBI and his company’s board after having an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based AI infrastructure company Megaspeed, whom US officials reportedly believe was gathering intelligence for China. 

But President Donald Trump voiced support for his billionaire ally on Monday, telling reporters that he had called Huang earlier that day to “see if he’s feeling all right.” He added that he believed his friend—apparently a “high-quality person”—when he said he had no idea that Alice Huang was an alleged spy.

“We’ll look into it,” Trump continued. “I know the FBI is looking into it, in terms of something else, and I think that he’ll be in good shape.” The agency, along with the Justice Department’s national security division, is investigating Megaspeed for allegedly shipping Nvidia AI chips to customers in China and looking into whether China recruited Alice Huang to spy and facilitate that shipping. (China has denied these claims.) 

The New York Times reported last month that Trump knew US intelligence was surveilling Alice Huang about a year ago, and found that she had a close relationship with a US citizen, later named as Jensen Huang. The paper also reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned other top Trump officials about the Nvidia CEO and Alice Huang’s relationship this past spring. Trump—viewing Nvidia’s chips as essential for US competition with China on AI—reportedly did nothing.

The Nvidia board announced Sunday that its investigation centers around whether US national security or corporate trade secrets were compromised, but stressed that it “has no reason to believe” that anything concerning took place.

Trump has a history of protecting his allies from potential penalties, and has often praised and spent time with Huang, who in turn has said he was a financial backer of Trump’s White House ballroom. Here’s a sampling of Trump’s glowing admiration:

• “A smart man”: In December 2025, Trump praised Huang’s intelligence while discussing export controls on Nvidia chips to China. Later that day, Huang dismissed concerns that his company’s products were being smuggled to countries where they are banned. 
• Xi summit: In May of this year, Trump reportedly invited Huang to join him while he talked with President Xi about “open[ing] up” the country to US businesses. 
• Celebrating Nvidia’s “incredible” earnings: In August, the president—a big fan of money—lauded Nvidia’s earnings on Truth Social after the company announced second-quarter revenue of $96 billion.
• National Medal of Science: Just weeks ago in October, the president praised the Nvidia CEO, along with other tech leaders like Elon Musk, as part of a White House summit for an AI science initiative, noting that “Nvidia chips…are the backbone of frontier superintelligence” and calling Huang “years and years ahead of other people and other companies.”