By Priya Raman

President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang should remain chief executive after Huang admitted an extramarital affair, even though Trump said he had not spoken to him about the case.

Trump was answering a question about whether he wished he had acted earlier on US intelligence concerning the affair. His judgment rested on personal assessment rather than a completed internal review. "I think he's an honorable guy," Trump said. "I think he probably has an excuse for it. You have to hear it."

Trump also said Huang had done an amazing job for the US. The endorsement gave Huang political backing as a corporate review began.

What did Huang disclose to employees?

In a memo to Nvidia employees on Sunday, Huang said he had been unfaithful to his wife and that his actions had hurt his family. He also said Nvidia's board was investigating whether he had been targeted by a foreign intelligence agency, meaning a government body that gathers information overseas.

The statement joined a personal confession to a security question. The first concerned his family; the second concerns whether a foreign government exploited his contacts to obtain company information.

Huang had previously described his relationship with the woman as normal. That earlier characterization did not address the later allegations of recruitment and information transfer.

What did US intelligence conclude?

By late last month, The New York Times reported that US intelligence agencies had concluded that Huang was the target of a Chinese spy plot. The report described the suspected spy as Alice Huang, a Chinese business executive and Nvidia chip buyer with no family relationship to the Nvidia chief.

According to the Times, Alice Huang developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang and passed information to Beijing. She had been recruited to seek information and potentially push for more advanced Nvidia chips to become available in China.

The reported mechanism combined intelligence collection with commercial leverage. Recruitment created an information channel; the potential push for advanced chips gave that channel a commercial objective.

Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment. That leaves the company's formal position on the reported account resting for now on the board's Sunday statement.

What has Nvidia's board established?

The board said on Sunday it had no reason to believe that national security or company secrets had been compromised. It added that its inquiry would examine the available information and that Huang was cooperating with the investigation.

That statement offers reassurance, not closure. Having no reason to believe a compromise occurred differs from establishing that no compromise took place, and the decision to review available information leaves both questions open.

Huang's cooperation allows the inquiry to test the allegations, but cooperation does not settle them. The board must still reconcile Huang's account with the intelligence reporting and determine what, if anything, the investigation finds.

Why does Huang's export stance matter?

Huang has become an increasingly influential voice in Washington's debate over chip-export restrictions, which limit US sales of advanced chips to China. He argues that strict limits could backfire by accelerating the growth of Chinese competitors.

That position places Huang at the center of a policy contradiction. The executive pressing for less restrictive sales now faces an inquiry into alleged foreign influence, while the reported spy plot sought information and potentially broader chip availability in China.

For Nvidia, the inquiry therefore extends beyond the private question of infidelity to national security and the protection of company secrets.

Trump has already given his verdict on Huang's future: the CEO should stay. Nvidia's board has not issued one, and its Sunday statement left the central security question unresolved.

The reporting disclosed no conclusion on whether company information was compromised and no timetable for the inquiry. Those are the material uncertainties for Nvidia, its investors and US policymakers as the affair, the alleged spy plot and the export debate converge.