Nvidia’s CEO Crisis: Trump Defends Huang as Board Weighs China Claims

By Nathan Brooks

Nvidia’s board is investigating whether cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang was the target of a foreign-intelligence effort after Huang admitted an affair on Sunday with Alice Huang, an executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed.

The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence officials believe Alice Huang was passing information to Beijing. Nvidia said its board is looking into whether Huang was a target of that effort. Huang’s admission placed him at the center of an inquiry into his personal conduct and possible foreign-intelligence targeting.

Business Insider reported that Huang helped make Nvidia indispensable to the AI boom, turn the chipmaker into the world’s most valuable company and become one of tech’s most powerful figures. Some investors and executives see him as irreplaceable. Gary Black and Ryan Fedasiuk argue that his conduct creates company risk.

In October, President Donald Trump presented Huang with the National Medal of Science. The timing places Huang’s public stature against the board’s review of his private conduct.

What does the scandal change for Nvidia?

For Nvidia, the immediate change is a board-level review of CEO conduct that now overlaps with China exposure and possible congressional scrutiny. Dan Ives, partner and senior managing director at Yorkville Ives, called the episode “a black eye moment for Jensen” and wrote: “This is a black eye moment for Jensen and will spark multiple congressional inquiries at a minimum and will create an overhang.”

Ryan Fedasiuk, senior fellow at The Foundation for American Innovation, a technology think tank, expects broader fallout. “I don't believe this personal affair will remain an isolated event,” he wrote on X on Monday.

“I also don't believe it can be separated from the company's broader PR crisis in DC: selling advanced chips to China, including through unscrupulous measures.” Fedasiuk said the affair could invite congressional scrutiny partly because Alice Huang is an executive at an Nvidia customer. “I don't see how it's possible for him to survive,” he told Business Insider.

Trump backs Huang

President Donald Trump defended Huang on Sunday and said he hoped “everything's fine.” Asked whether he wished he had acted on intelligence alleging Alice Huang was a spy, Trump said: “No, I don't think so.”

He called Huang “an honorable guy” and praised his record. “He's done such an incredible job,” Trump said. “He's a fine person, in my opinion.”

“I think he probably has an excuse for it,” Trump added. “You have to hear it.”

Why supporters say Huang must stay

Gavin Baker, managing partner and CIO of Atreides Management, has known Huang for nearly 30 years. He does not believe Huang would knowingly disadvantage the U.S. or Nvidia.

On X on Sunday, Baker wrote: “The only thing he has ever said to me about China is the absolute importance of keeping the American hardware ecosystem, led by Nvidia, ahead of China. That's it,” Baker wrote.

He added: “I have never known him to be anything other than patriotic and deeply pro-American.” Baker said Huang should remain CEO because he sees Nvidia’s China strategy as advancing U.S. national security interests.

Baker said Huang has consistently advocated giving China less powerful versions of Nvidia’s chips. He warned that removing him could benefit China: “I'm not sure what China hoped to gain from this espionage operation given they are restricting sales of Nvidia GPUs inside of China but it is worth considering that having Jensen removed as the CEO of Nvidia might serve China's own national security goals,” Baker wrote.

Ben Thompson, founder of subscription-based newsletter and podcast Stratechery, wants Huang to stay. He urged Nvidia leaders’ detractors “to do some reflecting of their own” and said AI is the most important industry to the U.S. Nvidia, he said, is one of the most important companies supporting it.

Thompson argued that no one could do Huang’s job: “I do not subscribe to the idea that anyone could do his job; there are great men, and Huang is one of them. That he is flawed does not change this reality; indeed, great men always are,” Thompson wrote. He said he hopes Huang can keep his job.

Thompson set a condition for that outcome: “Yes, conduct the investigations; yes, demand better controls. At the end of this, however, absent evidence of any sort of clear betrayal of U.S. interests, it is in the interests of the U.S. that Huang continue to be CEO of Nvidia. I very much hope that is where this ends up.”

The case for an exit

Gary Black, managing partner of The Future Fund, does not expect Huang to stay. “I doubt Jensen Huang will be able to remain as $NVDA CEO,” he wrote on X on Sunday.

“While Huang has not committed any crime or tort, his code of conduct and judgment will be called into question which will likely result in his removal by the NVDA Board.”

Black nevertheless said Huang lacks a natural successor within Nvidia. He told Business Insider that Nvidia will likely bring in someone from outside or select a board member as interim CEO.

Ives later said investors largely expect Huang to remain CEO, but they are factoring in a small chance that the board investigation could lead to his removal or departure. He said investors do not view Huang as replaceable and called that a worry for Wall Street.

The next decision points are whether the board investigation finds evidence of a foreign-intelligence effort and whether the affair triggers the congressional scrutiny Ives and Fedasiuk predicted. If Huang leaves, Black expects an outside or interim leader, while Baker and Thompson argue his departure could weaken Nvidia’s China strategy and U.S. interests.

The board’s handling will determine whether investors treat the episode as an isolated personal lapse or a governance failure tied to Nvidia’s China business.