Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's China Ties Put Trump Alliance Under Scrutiny

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's relationship with President Donald Trump is under fresh scrutiny after revelations that Huang had an affair with a woman U.S. intelligence suspects is a Chinese spy. The chipmaker's stock fell 4.27% in delayed trading to $178.67.

According to CNBC, Huang and other Nvidia executives have helped direct at least $26 million toward Trump-backed projects, including $25 million for his White House ballroom and $1 million for his 2025 inaugural fund. The company also spent a record $2.15 million on federal lobbying in the third quarter, up 72% from the prior quarter.

Congressional Republicans and Democrats are raising national security concerns. House Republican committee leaders asked Huang to sit for a closed-door briefing on his ties to Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based cloud company Megaspeed. U.S. intelligence determined that Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen unrelated to Jensen Huang, was funneling information to Beijing and had developed a close relationship with the Nvidia chief, The New York Times reported on Oct. 29.

Trump continued to defend Huang on Sunday, calling him an "honorable guy" and saying he had heard nothing suggesting wrongdoing. The president was briefed about the suspected Chinese intelligence operation in October 2025 but chose not to act, according to the Times. Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw a classified memo detailing the concerns this spring, the Times reported.

Huang admitted to the affair and apologized in a statement to staff on Sunday, and said Nvidia's board has initiated an independent investigation, which he supports. In his statement he said he loves the country and the company, is committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America's national security, and is proud and grateful to be an American.

Huang's access to Trump has coincided with policy reversals easing restrictions on Nvidia's chip sales to China. In April 2025 Huang attended a $1 million-per-person dinner at Mar-a-Lago, after which the administration briefly held off on restricting H20 chips. Following another meeting in July, the administration began approving sales to China. In December 2025, days after another meeting, Trump announced plans to permit exports of the more powerful H200 chips to approved Chinese customers.

Yet China has withheld approval for large-scale H200 imports, leaving hundreds of thousands of chips awaiting shipment as of early November.

A short seller, Culper Research, had flagged Huang's ties to Alice Huang in a May 13 report, calling their relationship "uncomfortably close." Culper also alleged Megaspeed was secretly financed by Alibaba through shell companies, with liabilities and equity growing from $33 million at the end of 2023 to about $3 billion by the end of 2024. The Financial Times reported Monday that documents show Alibaba lent money to Megaspeed through subsidiaries. Culper is a short seller and stood to benefit financially; its allegations have not been independently verified.

The Commerce Department investigated Megaspeed until August 2025, when the probe was transferred to the Department of Justice following outreach from Nvidia's general counsel, according to the Times. Nvidia did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday that high-level Trump administration officials would lead a classified briefing for lawmakers later in the day. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, posted on X Monday that Congress has legislation ready to stop advanced AI chips from fueling China's military.

Nvidia's next lobbying disclosure is due Dec. 3.