Trump Had Urged Nvidia’s Jensen Huang to Fight for His Job

Donald Trump called Nvidia chief Jensen Huang shortly before Huang was replaced as chief executive, urging him to fight to keep his job despite U.S. intelligence assessments that he had an affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese intelligence operative. Trump had received warnings about the relationship twice but took no action, and aides said he largely dismissed its national-security implications, viewing the scandal as a matter of adultery. He also saw Nvidia as too important to risk destabilizing: its dominance in advanced A.I. chips supported the economy, stock market and his ambition to establish U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence.

The account traces how Huang, initially unfamiliar to Trump, became a valued ally through personal outreach, praise and promises of major U.S. investment. Trump came to regard Nvidia as central to an A.I.-driven industrial revival, and worried Huang’s removal could hurt markets. Huang also persuaded Trump to permit sales of some Nvidia chips to China, with the government receiving a share of the revenue, despite objections from China hawks and warnings about security risks. The episode reflects Trump’s preference for economic deals and technology expansion over a hard-line China policy, as well as the influence Huang gained by presenting Nvidia’s global reach as a benefit to American power.