Jensen Huang is “going through hell” after it was made public that he was carrying out an extramarital affair, according to President Trump.
Mr. Huang, 63, stepped down as president and CEO of tech giant Nvidia after hundreds of billions were wiped off the firm’s market capitalization amid accusations that the woman with whom he carried out an affair was a Chinese asset.
Speaking on the Straight Shooter with Stephen A. podcast on Thursday, Trump described Huang’s resignation as “sad” and said that the ex-CEO is most upset about hurting his family.
“I always thought of him as a fine man. I spoke to him yesterday,” Trump said. “He’s going through hell. What he feels most badly about is hurting his wife and family.”
Mr. Huang has been accused of having an affair with Alice Huang, no relation, who is a former executive at the Singaporean firm Megaspeed.
In October, sources told The New York Times that Ms. Huang was helping China circumvent restrictions on its access to advanced chips, such as those produced by Nvidia.
Nvidia is at the center of the AI race because its graphics processing units can perform thousands of calculations at the same time - something vital for AI technology.
During his Thursday podcast appearance, Trump heaped praise onto Nvidia’s technology.
“He has a chip that’s so complex, so brilliant, that you can’t copy it,” Trump claimed. “I mean, it’s beyond copying because of their level of genius. What he’s done is incredible; he built an incredible... Nvidia’s unbelievable.”
The U.S. has tried to restrict China’s access to AI chip technology, imposing controls on the firm’s exports and revenue-sharing tariffs.
During his appearance on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast, Trump was asked whether Mr. Huang should have stepped down in light of the allegations.
“Well, the big thing is: Was the woman a spy?” he said. “And I don’t know if that’s not been determined yet.
“But if the woman was a spy, yes. If the woman was not a spy, perhaps it would be different.”
According to The Times’ October article, Trump had previously been briefed on findings relating to Ms. Huang.
Back in May, Mr. Huang accompanied Trump and several other tech CEOs to China as part of a state visit.
Speaking to reporters on November 9, Trump denied knowing about the intelligence warnings at the time of the state visit.
“No, I didn’t hear about it then. But a lot of people have heard about it,” he said, also noting that if he had been briefed on the situation previously: “Certainly, it didn’t make much of an impact on me.”
During the briefing, Trump also revealed that he asked Mr. Huang directly if he believed that Ms. Huang was a spy.
“And I asked him that question: ‘Did you have any idea that she was a spy?’” Trump said. “He said, ‘I had no idea that she was a spy,’ and I really believe him.”
Senator Tim Scott has called for Mr. Huang to appear voluntarily before the Senate Banking Committee on December 3. Scott has warned that a subpoena could be issued to force Mr. Huang, who is also facing calls from three House of Representatives committees to attend a closed-door interview, to testify.
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