New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman (Image: Screengrab via CNN / YouTube)
Haberman details how their relationship aligned with Trump’s ambition to secure the presidency and usher the country into a new era increasingly driven by artificial intelligence.
“On at least two occasions, President Trump was briefed by his own advisers that the U.S. intelligence community believed that this woman, Alice Huang, with whom Jensen Huang was having a close relationship, had been compromised by Chinese intelligence services. The president took no action either time that we know of, and in fact, moved to take Jensen Huang with him on a trip to China in May,” Haberman says in a new video.
Instead, Trump publicly praised Huang, and reportedly had a conversation with him behind the scenes, urging Huang to fight to keep his job. “Trump’s defense of Jensen Huang speaks not to just some personal affection that he has for the chief executive. It speaks to the fact that Jensen Huang’s company, Nvidia, has a massive, massive market share of the type of chips used to power artificial intelligence models. And President Trump has banked the success of the U.S. economy and therefore his presidency on the growth of artificial intelligence,” Haberman asserts.
Huang had very little political interest prior to the second Trump administration. Haberman notes that after President Joe Biden restricted the sale of certain chips to certain countries because of national security concerns, Huang realized a benefit in a relationship with President Trump. Their relationship grew, and Huang was personally invited to events with Trump. Huang would later announce a commitment to $500 billion in American manufacturing and praised Trump simultaneously, which gave him a leg up with Trump.
Trump’s announcement that Nvidia would be allowed to sell certain types of chips to China sparked backlash, as there was already suspicion that Trump was “essentially making a trade-off of national security in exchange for financial gain for the country,” Haberman notes. It was further complicated by rumors that some of these chips were being diverted into China illegally, which did not seem to faze President Trump or Huang. “Trump viewed Huang as somebody who was going to help lead the United States into a new frontier of technology,” Haberman said. Now, Trump is providing suggestions on Nvidia’s potential new C.E.O., further solidifying the reported alliance.
What’s Behind the Trump-Huang Relationship?
