WASHINGTON, United States: The scandal engulfing Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang could have its biggest consequences in Washington, where China hawks are seizing on the affair to push a hard line that had been put on the back burner under President Donald Trump.
Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and turned it into the world’s leading supplier of the processors that power artificial intelligence, admitted on Sunday to an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed whom US intelligence officials believe was working for Chinese intelligence.
Trump, who has relied on Huang as an adviser on AI, called him “an honorable guy” and said Huang told him he had no idea the woman was a spy.
Huang has spent years lobbying against curbs on sales of advanced AI chips to China, and Trump last year cleared Nvidia’s H200 chips for export there over objections from hawks in both parties.
“China hawks in policy circles in Washington DC were quite frustrated with the decisions and really wanted to see a more aggressive approach around export controls to China,” said Aalok Mehta of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“They will now see some fruits of their efforts.”
Many in Washington see the United States as locked in a Cold War-style race with China for technological and military dominance, and…
