Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of blockbuster chip maker Nvidia, is facing a series of questions and investigations after it came to light that he had affairs with two women, one a subordinate, and one a Chinese spy (oops!). These affairs, and especially the one with a Chinese intelligence asset, are obviously explosive, as the US and China remain in a race to capture AI dominance — and as Huang has advocated for the US to lift its ban on American companies selling chips to China. Was that really Huang’s preference, made with the best interests of the United States in mind? Or was his affair partner, Alice Huang, in his ear, advocating for the interests of the government for which she covertly works?
She was certainly in his pocketbook. Nvidia sold $4.8 billion in chips to a shell company in Singapore helmed by Alice Huang; the chips were then sold on to China.
This information was apparently known by the Trump administration, which largely ignored the obvious national security threats. Trump himself said Huang is an “honorable man” — and this was after it was revealed that Huang had been cheating on his wife with a Chinese spy and potentially compromising the security of one of America’s most financially and strategically important tech companies.
Trump, to be fair, is not known for being particularly honorable himself, nor for taking much care when it comes to matters of national security. Huang, though, had a Steve-Jobs-like reputation: a singular brilliant leader with a singular ability to run his company.
But is Huang really the genius he’s made himself out to be? Signs point to no. And this incident also draws into question his broader views on AI, safety, and corporate regulation — and should make us ask just how much we should really be listening to Jensen Huang.
