Now that Jensen Huang, CEO of chip company Nvidia, has stepped down, American politics is openly questioning whether the close ties between the government and the CEO have caused blind spots. Under President Trump, the way was cleared for unrestrained growth of artificial intelligence, but potential risks seem to have been set aside.
Last week it emerged that Huang had an affair with someone suspected of spying for China. In October last year, according to the New York Times, Trump was informed by US security services about the affair and the possible dangers.
Trump decided to take no further action. On the contrary, two months later he allowed the sale of more powerful chips to China. Warnings about this from Secretary of State Marco Rubio were also dismissed.
Chip technology
For almost ten years, America has tried to make it difficult for China to obtain advanced chip technology, but under Trump this no longer applies. Trump does not see it as a problem because, according to him, Nvidia's chips are 'too advanced to copy,' he said this week.
Another counterargument, according to Trump and Huang, is that it is important for the American economy if Chinese companies remain dependent on these American chips. Therefore, Huang was also allowed to attend two state dinners with Chinese President Xi in Beijing and Washington.
The success of Nvidia and the White House are increasingly intertwined. In exchange for allowing chip exports to China, the government even receives up to 25 percent of the revenue from these sales in some cases.
AI development is an important pillar for Trump's administration and for economic growth. According to a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs, probably from the end of next year 4 percent of the entire American economy will be attributable to AI.
Close ties
There does not yet seem to be much reflection within the government. Although voices are rising to hold Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick responsible.
According to news website Axios, Lutnick consistently stood in the way when export restrictions were discussed within the government. He has had close ties with Jensen Huang for many years. According to the Wall Street Journal, Lutnick is an important link for tech companies to get close to the president. The question is whether Trump dares to sacrifice his good friend Lutnick to keep himself out of the wind.
Trump himself so far mainly regrets losing an important partner in Huang and called him a 'legend.' This seems to be the case with other tech bros as well. They are probably mostly afraid that Huang's departure will have consequences for the rest of the AI world and are trying to limit the damage. Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk even offered Huang a job.
China wants answers
Congress, on the other hand, is sharpening its knives. They want Huang to testify before the Senate to provide answers about the alleged spy. Howard Lutnick has also been invited to testify. It will not stop there. With a Democratic Congress coming after the elections, it is likely that there will be more investigations into the entanglement between the business world and the White House.
It still needs to be clarified whether important information actually reached China through Huang's extramarital relationship. Beijing still strongly denies this and says Asian women are demonized by this accusation. Within the US, it has also not yet been definitively established whether Huang indeed had an affair with a spy.
China will certainly want answers when Trump travels to Shenzhen next week for an economic summit where Xi will also be present. At the previous meeting, both leaders agreed to communicate better regarding AI and its regulations. The fear is that this affair has created new distrust.