Trump had urged Nvidia’s Jensen Huang to fight for his job
AI generated
NEW YORK – US President Donald Trump called Jensen Huang on Nov 10, before the Nvidia chief stepped down amid a rapidly unfolding spy scandal, and urged him to keep fighting for his job, according to two people briefed on the conversation.
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chief → urge → conversation
The call was the latest instance of Trump defending and protecting Huang, who had become a high-profile ally and an influential adviser on artificial intelligence.
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who → defend → intelligence
The President continued to back him to the end, even after US intelligence agencies had concluded that Huang was having an affair with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy.
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Huang → continue → woman
Nvidia announced on Nov 12 that Huang, who built the company into the world’s leading supplier of advanced AI chips, had been replaced as CEO following revelations not just of the affair with the woman suspected of being a spy, but also another with one of his employees.
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who → announce → employees
A representative for Huang did not provide a comment for this article.
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representative → provide → article
Neither Trump nor the White House responded to requests for comment about his call to Huang.
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Trump → respond → Huang
The President had been warned at least twice about Huang’s relationship with a Chinese citizen known as Alice Huang, whom intelligence agencies concluded had been recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security, The New York Times has reported.
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Times → warn → Security
Trump took no action either time, and brought Huang with him on a trip to China in May.
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Trump → take → May
In recent days, he has publicly praised Jensen Huang and expressed sympathy for him, saying in a social media post on Nov 12 that he was a “legend”.
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he → praise → Nov
The President’s advisers said he was blasé about the national security implications when told of the intelligence community assessments related to Huang.
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he → say → Huang
One aide said that Trump saw the episode mainly through the lens of adultery, and that the President dismissed the idea of Huang’s entanglement posing a threat to the country.
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entanglement → say → country
Trump saw Nvidia as essentially too big to fail, aides said.
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aides → see → Nvidia
The company, one of the world’s largest by market capitalisation, has played a vital role in the global economy and underpinned the president’s hopes for AI dominance over China.
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company → play → China
Advisers to Trump gave several explanations for the way he had handled the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive conversations.
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he → give → conversations
Chief among them was that the President had invested greatly in Huang, whom he saw as a modern-day Henry Ford, leading in a technology that could define the century.
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that → invest → century
Trump viewed Nvidia’s fortunes as bound up with those of the US economy and the stock market.
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Trump → view → economy
When reports surfaced that the company’s board was considering removing Huang, Trump asked confidants what they thought would happen to the markets.
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they → surface → markets
He was worried that Huang’s ouster could cause a sharp downturn.
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ouster → worry → downturn
The President’s last-ditch effort to save Huang was a remarkable moment in a relationship that barely existed two years ago.
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that → save → relationship
The Nvidia founder had no real presence in Washington.
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founder → have → Washington
He did not lobby or give to campaigns, and showed little interest in politics.
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He → lobby → politics
The Biden administration’s sweeping restrictions on chip exports forced Huang to be more attentive to Washington, but he still did far less politicking than his rivals.
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he → force → rivals
In contrast to other tech leaders, he did not attend Trump’s second inauguration.
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he → attend → inauguration
With evident relish, Trump has told the story of first hearing Huang’s name.
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Trump → tell → name
What’s his name?” he has recalled to associates.
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he → ’ → associates
I said, ‘What the hell is Nvidia?’”
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Nvidia → say → ?
By late 2024, Trump had learned that Huang was the indispensable man at the company that controlled at least 80% of the market for chips used to train the most advanced AI models.
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that → learn → models
And Huang saw an opening to woo a president who demanded personal attention and responded to flattery.
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who → see → flattery
In April 2025, Huang and his wife, Lori, attended a dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Trump and a group of tech and crypto donors.
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Huang → attend → donors
The president came away intrigued, and the more he learned, the more impressed he became.
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he → come → ?
He was told again and again that the AI boom ran almost entirely through Nvidia.
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boom → tell → Nvidia
“You’re taking over the world, Jensen,” Trump would later tell him.
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Trump → take → him
Huang offered something the President had failed to get in his first term and hoped to achieve in his second.
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President → offer → second
During his first administration, Trump had pledged to bring back coal and steel jobs.
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Trump → pledge → jobs
But those industries never returned to their old strength.
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industries → return → strength
AI offered a route to the reindustrialisation of the United States that Trump had promised voters.
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Trump → offer → voters
He came to believe that the rush to build data centres and their enormous appetite for electricity could produce a manufacturing revival and keep an otherwise shaky economy running hot.
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rush → come → economy
To the President, that made the leaders of the AI companies the most valuable executives in the country, and Huang perhaps the most valuable of them all.
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Huang → make → them
Huang played into that saviour role.
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Huang → play → role
In 2025, he said Nvidia would produce up to US$500 billion (S$643 billion) worth of AI infrastructure in the United States.
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Nvidia → say → States
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
