U.S. President Trump said the FBI is investigating an extramarital affair between Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang and a woman accused of being a Chinese spy.
Earlier reports stated that the US authorities believed that Huang Renxun had become the target of Chinese espionage operations. Trump said he had a phone call with Huang Jen-Hsun on Monday (November 9).
"I asked him the question: 'Did you know she was a spy?' and he said, 'I had no idea she was a spy,'" Trump told reporters. "And I really believed him."
China denies claims that Huang was targeted by espionage. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the relevant accusations were "purely groundless and slanderous."
Nvidia has commissioned an independent investigation to uncover the extramarital affair between Huang and alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang (pinyin name: Huang Le). The company said it had no reason to believe its trade secrets or national security had been compromised.
However, Trump said later on Monday that the FBI was investigating the matter, but did not further elaborate on the specific content of the investigation or when it would be launched. The BBC has contacted the FBI for response.
According to the New York Times, U.S. intelligence officials believe Huang Le is a spy working for Beijing.
According to reports, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to senior officials in Washington last spring warning that Nvidia's CEO was maintaining a close relationship with a Chinese spy.
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Huang Le was the managing director of Megaspeed, a Singaporean company. The company does business with Nvidia, which is at the heart of global artificial intelligence (AI) development with its chips.
Jensen Huang is the co-founder and CEO of Nvidia. The U.S. company is also a focus of the competition between China and the U.S. in artificial intelligence, with U.S. officials viewing its exports to China as a national security issue.
"He said he had no idea she was a spy."
Trump said at a Monday afternoon press conference that he believed Huang was an "upstanding man" and said: "I'm very confident that he's going to be fine."
"I did speak to him on the phone today, just to see if he was okay and to ask him how he was doing," the president said. "I also asked him about it, and he said he had absolutely no idea that the people involved were spies."
Trump also said he was "certain" that Chinese President Xi Jinping "will ask about it" the next time he meets with him.
Jen-Hsun Huang has admitted to being "unfaithful" to his wife and apologized for hurting his wife and children.
He said on Monday that he was "committed to protecting Nvidia and safeguarding U.S. national security" and said he would cooperate with the company's investigation.
Multiple committees in the U.S. Congress have also asked Huang to attend a joint closed-door briefing next week.
In the letter, the chairmen of each committee said they wanted to hear Huang explain "Nvidia's security measures to prevent espionage by hostile foreign forces, as well as your contact with a person who has been publicly reported to be an intelligence agent of the People's Republic of China. The person is Huang Le, a Superspeed International executive."
It is unclear whether Huang will attend. The BBC has contacted Nvidia and relevant congressional committees for response.
This article was originally written in English. We used artificial intelligence to assist in translation and was reviewed by BBC journalists before publication. Learn more about how we use artificial intelligence.
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