US President Donald Trump has said the FBI is investigating the affair between the chief executive of Nvidia and an alleged Chinese spy.
Trump said he spoke to Jensen Huang on Monday following reports that the US believed he had been targeted in a Chinese espionage campaign.
“I asked him that question, ‘Did you have any idea she was a spy?’ He said ‘I had no idea she was a spy’ and I really believe him,” Trump told reporters.
Beijing has rejected claims that Huang was targeted, with its foreign ministry saying the allegations were “entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China”.
Nvidia, which has commissioned an independent investigation into the affair involving Alice Huang, alleged to be a Chinese spy, said it had no reason to believe the company’s secrets or national security were compromised.
The company is the world’s second most valuable company after Apple and designs computer chips that have become central to AI technology. The revelations knocked about $250bn (£190bn) off Nvidia’s value on Monday as its share price fell by more than 4%.
Trump later told reporters at the White House that the FBI was now looking into the issue, but did not elaborate on the probe or when it was launched. The FBI declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
US intelligence officials believe Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, was a spy for Beijing, according to a New York Times report.
The report said Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a memo to top officials in Washington last spring warning that the Nvidia boss was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy.
Alice Huang was managing director of Singaporean company Megaspeed, which has had dealings with Nvidia, the company at the centre at the development of AI worldwide through its microchips. She is not related to the Nvidia chief.
Trump’s remarks are the first indication of whether Nvidia’s Huang knew about the woman’s alleged ties to Chinese espionage.
The American firm, co-founded by Huang, is also a major focus in the AI rivalry between the US and China, with officials in Washington treating the company’s exports to Beijing as a matter of national security.
Huang and Nvidia were also sued on Monday in a proposed class action lawsuit in California accusing them of defrauding shareholders by concealing the chief executive’s ties with a suspected Chinese spy.
The lawsuit alleges that the firm lied to the media about Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, “who is suspected of seeking to help smuggle Nvidia products to China.”
The BBC has contacted Nvidia for comment on the lawsuit.
