Trump publicly vouched for Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang after Huang admitted to an affair with a woman US authorities suspect of being a Chinese spy.
Huang acknowledged the relationship with Alice Huang (no relation) on Sunday. Trump told reporters he asked Huang whether he knew she was a spy, and Huang reportedly said he had "no idea". Trump added, "I know the FBI is looking into it," and predicted Huang would "be in good shape."
Asked whether he regrets not acting on a briefing he reportedly received last year, indicating a Chinese spy was targeting Huang, Trump said: "No, I don't think so. I think he's an honourable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it."
Investors have been less forgiving. Nvidia has lost a few hundred billion dollars in value, and law firms including Rosen Law Firm and Schall, Brown & Schwartz are reportedly urging shareholders to claim the company made false or misleading statements and failed to disclose key information. Nvidia had denied a romantic connection between the two before it became public. It had also vouched for Megaspeed, a Singapore data centre company that Alice Huang is reportedly connected to. Megaspeed denies accusations of chip smuggling.
Our read: Trump's remarks are a character reference, not a finding. The shareholder questions concern what Nvidia knew and said, and a president's goodwill does not answer them.
His Blackwell boast also cuts the wrong way. Trump said the chip is "10 years advanced" and "can't even be copied." If that is true, anyone wanting the newest AI chips in China, which lacks them, needs genuine ones. That is the demand the smuggling trade feeds on. This is our inference, not something the source says about Megaspeed.
The open question is what Nvidia knew when it issued its denial.