Courtney Rozen
US President Donald Trumpโs close relationship with embattled Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang came under renewed scrutiny, after the company said its board was investigating whether the tech executive has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.
Huang is one of Trumpโs closest allies in Silicon Valley, and the relationship between the two dates to at least 2025. Over the past two years, he has repeatedly voiced support for the administrationโs agenda and become a regular presence in Washington as Nvidia sought to sell advanced chips to the Chinese market.
Advanced chips are the backbone of the US AI boom and government officials have previously tried to restrict Chinaโs access to them through export controls to stifle its AI capabilities.
Nvidiaโs board launched its probe after a New York Times report said Huang had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman whom US intelligence officials believe passed information to the Chinese government. Nvidia shares hit a seven-month low on Wall Street on Monday, wiping hundreds of billions of dollars off the value of the company.
As one of Silicon Valleyโs biggest celebrities during the AI boom, Huangโs confession plunges Nvidia into a crisis that threatens to reverberate through the broader industry. After advocating for years to sell more of Nvidiaโs AI processors to China, the worldโs largest market for chips, his links to the country will come under greater scrutiny than ever before.
โThis tech competition is really happening at the level of private companies, which are headed by CEOs,โ former US intelligence analyst Elly Rostoum told Bloomberg TV. โThis seems quite frankly quite careless.โ
A direct line
Huang has a direct line to the president. A Reuters reporter saw Huangโs full name pop up on Trumpโs phone in December 2025.
Huang flew with Trump to China on Air Force One in May, the first visit by a US president to China in nearly a decade. Huang attended a high-profile state dinner in September for Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House. The company committed $US25 million ($36.2 million) for Trumpโs planned White House ballroom, according to media reports.
The New York Times reported that Trump was briefed on Huangโs relationship with the woman and that she was giving information to the Chinese government, and chose not to act on the information.
Neither the White House nor Nvidiaโs communications team immediately responded to a Reuters request for comment on their relationship.
China denied it engaged in an attempt to ensnare the Nvidia CEO, saying the spying allegations were unsubstantiated and a smear campaign against Beijing.
In a routine news briefing, a Chinese spokesperson rejected claims it used the woman as a spy.
โThe so-called Chinese spy allegation is unsubstantiated. It is nothing but smears against China,โ Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday.
As one of Silicon Valleyโs biggest celebrities during the AI boom, Huangโs confession plunges Nvidia into a crisis that threatens to reverberate through the broader industry.
Huangโs relationship with Trump has coincided with several favourable policy developments for the company. In April 2025, the administration backed off plans to restrict exports of certain Nvidia AI chips to China after Huang attended a dinner at Trumpโs Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
In December 2025, Trump said the US would allow Nvidia to export its H200 processors, its second-best AI chips, to China and collect a 25 per cent fee on such sales.
Trump has lavished Huang with praise, awarding him the nationโs highest honour for scientific achievement in October. The same day Trump gave Huang the award, the president disclosed buying up to $US1.6 million and selling up to $US1 million in Nvidia stock during the summer.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told Reuters at the time that third-party financial institutions independently manage the presidentโs portfolio.
Trump told reporters he had not spoken to Huang about the allegations, calling Huang an โhonourable guy.โ
โI hope everythingโs fine,โ he said about Huang. โHeโs done such an incredible job.โ
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