Huang Quits Nvidia; Analysis: It’s Clear Who’s Ultimately to Blame
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned after revelations of affairs, one with a suspected Chinese spy. Trump administration officials are now blaming one another over chip sales to a Singapore firm, and one analysis says the president owns the mess most.
Jensen Huang, the longtime chief executive of Nvidia, resigned after revelations that he had multiple extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy, and one analysis of the fallout argues it’s clear who’s ultimately responsible: President Donald Trump, not Huang.
The scandal has moved from the boardroom into the White House. Trump administration officials are now pointing fingers at one another in public.
Why Washington cares
Huang is a prominent Trump ally. His indiscretions appear to have let Beijing get its hands on Nvidia’s advanced semiconductor chips, according to the analysis. That boosts the United States’ chief rival in the race to build powerful artificial intelligence systems.
The chips reportedly reached China through Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that Huang’s paramour reportedly used to funnel them.
Bessent versus Lutnick
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick last week, according to a report, over Lutnick’s failure to block Nvidia from selling to Megaspeed. Lutnick’s department is supposed to ensure that overseas buyers of Nvidia chips are not a threat to national security.
Bessent and other top officials believe Lutnick repeatedly stonewalled their efforts to cut off Megaspeed, including before the scandal broke. Why he would do so is not clear. One possible link is the millions of dollars’ worth of Nvidia stock that his sons’ company recently sold.
Bessent took the dispute public in a television interview. Asked about the scandal, he said Commerce “has the pen, and you will have to ask them about their internal processes.”
Some congressional Republicans now want Lutnick to testify about what went wrong. The president is reportedly considering firing him.
Lutnick’s department has also permitted chip sales to other suspicious firms with ties to China’s government, according to a separate report. His long friendship with Trump has so far saved him from past trouble, including reports that he misrepresented trade deals and clashed with other aides.
What Trump knew
Trump counts Huang as an ally and reportedly urged him this week to ride out the scandal. He has claimed he knew little about any Chinese espionage targeting the former CEO.
Reporting indicates otherwise. Top U.S. officials first told Trump about it last year. He then failed to stop Nvidia from selling chips to Megaspeed, and he appears not to have told Huang he had been consorting with a spy.
The analysis does not blame Trump for Huang’s affairs. But it says Trump has repeatedly called the U.S.–China contest for AI supremacy existential, even as his inattention appears to have let China keep access to sensitive technology.
