An affair, an alleged spy, and the world’s biggest AI company

Manveen Rana (0:01)

From The Times and The Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Manveen Rana.

It was a scene that really highlighted the importance of one man. Back in May, the most important plane in the world, en route to one of the most important meetings, made a surprising stop.

SPEAKER_2 (0:27)

Air Force One passed right here through Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage Tuesday evening with President Trump on board to refuel for the second leg of his journey to China and an important high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Manveen Rana (0:43)

When the plane landed, the press back on board was astonished to see a figure dressed in black trousers, a black shirt and his trademark black leather jacket walking across the tarmac towards Air Force One to hitch a ride.

SPEAKER_3 (1:00)

The president saw some media coverage of the fact that Jensen Huang was not on the trip, rectified that PDQ as they say.

Jensen Huang (1:08)

He called me in the morning as he was leaving. He didn't realize I wasn't going and insisted I get on the plane. So I flew to Alaska, jumped on Air Force One and went to China.

Manveen Rana (1:19)

Jensen Huang, the head of one of the biggest companies in the world, the godfather of the AI boom, and the man that Donald Trump wanted by his side for his big summit with Xi Jinping. It was a scene that will have horrified some in US intelligence, as last spring they produced a secret memo warning the White House of the security risks surrounding the Nvidia boss.

But it wasn't until this weekend, five months later, that the rest of the world found out why.

SPEAKER_5 (1:52)

Nvidia boss Jensen Huang is now under investigation by his company's board after reports that he was targeted in a foreign intelligence effort.

SPEAKER_6 (2:02)

He wrote in an email to staff at Nvidia, his company, I was unfaithful to my wife, I'm deeply sorry. But in addition to this family heartache, there's a national security alarm.

Manveen Rana (2:13)

Nvidia, a company worth 4.5 trillion dollars, is vital to America's economic interests. It's chips power America's AI boom. And the White House has tried to ban many of them from being sold to China, for fear of its biggest competitor catching up.

So could this scandal see those fears realized?

SPEAKER_2 (2:37)

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for investigations. There is a huge discussion over national security concerns.

SPEAKER_6 (2:45)

There are also suggestions that her company, Megaspeed, might have been involved in getting Nvidia's really precious computer chips into China.

Manveen Rana (2:56)

Nvidia said its board had no reason to believe the company's secrets or national security had been compromised. But they've launched an internal investigation.

So was this a honey trap? How much could China have benefited from the relationship? And what might it mean for the already shakey AI boom? The story today, the Nvidia scandal and why it matters.

Chris Stokel-Walker (3:40)

So Nvidia is absolutely huge worth at its peak, almost more than five trillion dollars. And it has been at the forefront and the center of the AI revolution.

Manveen Rana (3:51)

Chris Stokel-Walker is an author and technology journalist who contributes to The Times.

Chris Stokel-Walker (3:57)

And it is also controlled basically by one very totemic leader, Jensen Huang. He's got a kind of weird position of being like a Steve Jobs or an Elon Musk, really powerful personality overseeing this massive thing. And as we've learned over the last few days, turns out perhaps not the best leader in terms of what he's been doing.

Manveen Rana (4:20)

Chris, give me a sense of how the tech world responded to that. Because as you say, this is the biggest company. So much of the new AI era and so many companies in Silicon Valley are entirely reliant on Nvidia working. The man at the top, the man who has created that company and steered it for decades now, is suddenly caught in an unexpected scandal.

Tell me what you thought when you heard the news.

Chris Stokel-Walker (4:47)

I was hugely shocked because it seems bizarre that this would A, happen because Jensen Huang is often seen as a very sensible person. He has a rock star personality, wears the leather jacket. He's been photographed signing women's breasts at events and he often does stuff.

He leans into this personality a little bit of being outlandish. I think he quite likes the fact that he is this massive power broker who is as comfortable across business negotiating tables as he is at the White House. When these bits of reporting first came out, alleging this connection between him and his power rule, it showed that actually he wasn't as smart as perhaps we all thought. He was susceptible to this alleged honeypot trap, but also that he would jeopardize what has been just a massive bull run for the company. For 33 years, Nvidia has kind of skyrocketed in valuation because it has become integral to large parts of what we do. And to seem to throw it all away, as well as the kind of family dynamic that's involved here as well, in a very long relationship with his wife, has two kids who work for the company, it just seems bizarre.