Trump defends Jensen Huang while Democrats demand answers on spy case

WASHINGTON, Nov 10 – President Donald Trump said on Monday that Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang told him he had no idea a Chinese businesswoman linked to him was a spy. Trump said he believes him.

He also said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now examining the matter.

Trump made the remarks during a White House briefing. He said he had spoken with Huang on Monday and described the allegations as surprising. According to Trump, he asked Huang directly whether he knew the woman was a spy.

“He said, ‘I had no idea that she was a spy,’” Trump said.

Trump said he believed Huang’s account and suggested that Huang would “be in good shape.” He added that Huang likely had an explanation and that the public should hear it.

When asked whether he would take Huang on his upcoming trip to Asia, Trump said he did not yet know. However, he added that he would “certainly” consider taking him.

The comments came a day after Nvidia announced that its board had opened an investigation into whether Huang had been the target of a foreign espionage effort.

The inquiry follows a report published last month by The New York Times. The newspaper reported that Huang had a close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman with no family connection to him.

She is a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud computing company.

According to the report, United States intelligence officials believe she passed information to the Chinese government. China’s foreign ministry has dismissed the espionage allegations as groundless.

Nvidia has said that its board has no reason to believe that national security or company secrets were compromised.

The case has nonetheless drawn renewed attention to the close relationship between Trump and Huang, one of the world’s most prominent technology executives. It also highlights the growing political and national-security scrutiny surrounding the semiconductor industry, particularly as competition between the United States and China over advanced artificial-intelligence technology intensifies.

The New York Times reported that Trump was briefed on the relationship and on the intelligence about the woman about a year ago. It said he chose not to act. The White House press office declined on Monday to say more about Trump’s ties with Huang.

Huang has become a regular face in Washington over the past two years. He has often spoken in support of the administration’s plans, while Nvidia has tried to sell its advanced chips in China.

Those chips are at the heart of the artificial intelligence boom in the United States. Washington has tried to limit China’s access to them through export controls.

And some of the policy moves have gone Nvidia’s way. In April 2025, the administration dropped plans to restrict exports of some Nvidia chips to China. That came after Huang had a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Then in December 2025, Trump said Nvidia could sell its H200 chips to China, with the United States taking a 25% cut of those sales.

Huang flew with Trump to China on Air Force One in May. In September, he went to a White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping. Nvidia also pledged $25 million toward Trump’s planned White House ballroom, according to media reports.

In October, Trump gave Huang the nation’s top honor for science. On the same day, Trump disclosed that he had bought and sold Nvidia shares over the summer. A White House spokesperson said at the time that outside firms manage the president’s finances independently.

Democrats now want answers.

Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, said on social media that he is calling for an investigation into Jensen Huang and Nvidia. He argued that Americans deserve to know who is truly shaping artificial-intelligence policy within the administration.

“I’m pushing to investigate Jensen Huang and Nvidia,” Coons said.

Three Democratic members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representatives Gabe Amo, Gregory Meeks, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, also wrote to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. They urged the Commerce Department to halt exports of advanced chips to China.

The lawmakers are seeking to determine whether senior Commerce officials were aware of intelligence linking Alice Huang and Megaspeed to Chinese efforts to obtain Nvidia chips. They also asked whether those officials had discussed the matter with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The representatives set a response deadline of December 1.

“If Commerce was not briefed, we need to know why,” the lawmakers wrote.

Nvidia’s shares closed more than 4% lower on Monday, reaching their lowest level in seven months.