On Monday, following bombshell revelations about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy, a Fox News guest and expert on China warned that White House officials could be “taken down” due to their collaboration with the business mogul. According to lawyer Gordon Chang – a China researcher with the right-wing think tank Galestone Institute – Huang’s proximity to President Donald Trump represents a “critical national security violation.”
In late October, it was revealed that the CEO had been in an extramarital romantic relationship with Alice Huang, an alleged Chinese spy with links to an Nvidia customer, Megaspeed, that’s been accused of helping restricted Chinese companies acquire Nvidia’s advanced Blackwell artificial intelligence chips. The matter has prompted bipartisan outrage, and as a result, it is expected that it will be discussed at a classified briefing between lawmakers and White House officials later Monday. Appearing on Fox, Chang explained that the situation is particularly alarming because of Jensen Huang’s close ties to Trump and his administration.
As Chang elaborated, “China has large quantities of Blackwell chips, which are prohibited for export to China, and there’s a question about whether Nvidia knew it was selling to parties that were diverting the chips to China.” According to Chang, “Megaspeed is probably a [Chinese] Ministry of State Security operation, so clearly, there’s a question there.” This raises more questions, he said, about the Commerce Department’s role in the scheme. “Why were they permitting export? Why were they issuing export licenses to what looks like shell companies?” And this, asserted Chang, prompts “the major question” about the administration’s participation. According to Chang, “President Trump has known about this for a year, and during that year, if China did get Blackwell chips, I think the president owes an explanation to the American people why he did not act, because this is a critical national security violation.” According to the New York Times, Trump was briefed on intelligence regarding the spy plot last year, but U.S. officials did not believe the Nvidia executive knew that Ms. Huang was gathering information for the Chinese.
“Jensen Huang had unusual access to President Trump,” observed Fox host Stuart Varney. “He joined him on his trip to China, so this really is a national security risk, isn’t it?” Chang agreed, noting that Trump has already announced plans to bring the CEO with him for the APEC summit in China next week. “This is, I think, inappropriate,” said Chang. “Jensen Huang should not be serving as CEO of Nvidia while these investigations continue, because there are real questions about his actions with regard to China.” Varney asked if Huang will face consequences. “Yes,” concluded Chang, “and he’s not the only person. I think you’re going to be seeing people at the Commerce Department being forced to leave and maybe even the White House staff. The blast radius is expanding, and I think there are going to be a lot of people taken down.”