Fox Business host Larry Kudlow called on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to resign Tuesday over his relationship with a woman suspected of working for Chinese intelligence. The call came just one day after President Donald Trump publicly defended the tech executive.
“Step down, Mr. Huang. Right now,” Kudlow said at the start of “The Riff” segment on his program “Kudlow.”
Kudlow, who served as director of the National Economic Council during Trump’s first term, said the least Huang should do is use common sense and step down from his positions at Nvidia, including chief executive, while investigations play out.
He said he was not there to indict Huang, but he argued that stepping aside would show integrity, character and patriotism. He warned that the scandal could give the entire artificial intelligence revolution a bad name.
Huang acknowledged in a Sunday memo to staff that he had an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, a major Nvidia customer. U.S. officials suspect she worked for China’s Ministry of State Security, though that has not been proven.
Megaspeed has been investigated over suspicions that advanced Nvidia chips were illegally diverted to China.
Nvidia’s board has launched an independent investigation into reports that its CEO was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. The board said it has no reason to believe that national security or the company’s confidential information was compromised. The allegations have not established that Huang knowingly shared any information.
Kudlow’s commentary came after The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Trump about Huang’s relationship before the Nvidia chief traveled with the president to China in May.
Trump, who has confirmed that the FBI is looking into the matter, has stood by Huang. The president called him a “very honorable man” and said Huang told him he did not know the woman was allegedly tied to Chinese intelligence.
“I just know Jensen very well,” Trump said.
Kudlow is not the only Republican voice calling for Huang to go. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., a member of the Senate Banking Committee, told Politico late Tuesday that the risk of extortion around something as sensitive as Nvidia chips means Huang “has got to go.” Cramer called the board’s internal review “fine, but not nearly enough.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast has said he is prepared to subpoena Huang unless he agrees to a closed-door briefing on Nov. 18, the day after Nvidia reports quarterly earnings.
The scandal has hit the company hard. Nvidia lost about $430 billion in market value over Monday and Tuesday, though its shares bounced back more than 5% in premarket trading Wednesday. Shareholders have also filed suit over the affair.
Nvidia’s chips are at the center of the AI boom and the technology race between the United States and China, which raises the stakes of any security concerns surrounding the company’s leadership.
Huang co-founded Nvidia and has led it for more than three decades. The company has not named a successor.
