New York Times: There is a reason why Jen-Hsun Huang resigned and Trump persuaded him to stay, if he had known about the extramarital affair.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang resigned today after a series of extramarital affairs broke out. The New York Times reported that two people familiar with the matter revealed that President Trump called on the 10th to urge him to continue fighting to keep his job.

The New York Times reported that Huang Renxun has long become a high-profile ally of Trump and an influential advisor in the field of AI. Even though U.S. intelligence agencies determined that Huang had an extramarital affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy, Trump still supported him to the end. The call was the latest example of Trump once again defending Huang.

Reports say Trump was warned at least twice about Huang's relationship with a Chinese woman named Alice Huang. Intelligence agencies determined that Huang Le had been recruited by China's Ministry of State Security. The first warning was at the end of last year, and the second was in the spring of this year.

Trump took no action twice and took Huang along to visit China in May this year. In recent days, Trump has publicly praised Huang and expressed sympathy, and today he posted on social media calling him a "legend."

A Trump aide said on condition of anonymity that when Trump was informed of the intelligence community's assessment of Huang's situation, he was indifferent to the national security issues involved. Aides said Trump viewed the incident primarily as an extramarital affair and did not believe Huang's involvement posed a threat to the country.

Aides said Trump believed Huida was basically "too big to fail." Huida is one of the companies with the highest market value in the world and plays a key role in the global economy. It is also an important pillar of Trump's hope that the United States will lead China in the field of AI.

The main reason is that Trump has invested a lot in Huang Renxun. He sees Huang as a modern-day Henry Ford, pioneering technologies that may define this century.

Trump believes that Huida’s fate is closely related to the U.S. economy and stock market. When news broke that Huida's board was considering removing Huang, Trump asked close associates how they thought the market would react. He worries that Jen-Hsun Huang's resignation may cause the stock market to plummet.

Trump's last-ditch effort to retain Huang became a particularly striking moment in the relationship between the two men, who had barely crossed paths two years ago.

The New York Times mentioned that during Trump’s first presidential term, Huang Renxun was not at all on his radar. Huang has almost no presence in Washington, does not engage in lobbying or campaign donations, and has little interest in politics. After former President Joe Biden's administration aggressively restricted chip exports, Huang had to pay more attention to Washington's developments, but his level of involvement in political activities is still far lower than that of his competitors. Unlike other technology industry leaders, he did not attend Trump's second inauguration ceremony.

Trump was obviously very interested in talking about the first time he heard Huang's name. He once recalled to people around him: "Who is he? What is his name? Some people said he was Huang Renxun from Huida. I said, 'What is Huida?'"

By the end of 2024, Trump already knows that Huang Renxun is the indispensable soul of Huida. This company has at least 80% market share in the chips used to train the most advanced AI models. Huang also saw an opportunity to try to win over a president who demands personal attention and responds to flattery.

The opportunities brought by Huang Jen-Hsun are the results that Trump failed to achieve in his first term but hopes to achieve in his second term. During his first term, Trump promised to bring back jobs in the coal and steel industries, but these industries have never regained their former glory. However, AI provides another path for Trump’s second term to help realize the re-industrialization of the United States he promised voters.

Huang Renxun persuaded Trump that Huida should sell chips as widely as possible so that the world can develop based on American technology rather than Chinese technology.

At Huang's urging, Trump allowed Huida to sell some types of chips to China and adopted special arrangements to increase the federal government's commission from 15% to 25%. Critics questioned the legality of the move and warned the United States was sacrificing national security. Some administration officials are privately surprised by how much influence Huang appears to have over Trump.

The New York Times mentioned that some U.S. officials were already worried about Jen-Hsun Huang even before the scandal involving his alleged affair partner being a spy came to light this fall. In their view, Huang Jen-Hsun has close contacts with Chinese corporate executives and local officials, and even if interpreted in a positive light, he seems naive and imprudent. Some question how he could have been unaware that Huang Le might have ties to Chinese intelligence agencies.

But Trump is unlikely to have the same national security concerns, and his tough stance on China during his term was mainly limited to trade. Even on trade, he has repeatedly shown a tendency to prefer a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to a drawn-out trade war.

Trump, unlike some former presidents, has largely ignored Beijing's human rights abuses. When asked in 2020 why sanctions had not been imposed in response to the mass detention of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, he said: "Well, we were negotiating a major trade deal at the time."

The New York Times pointed out that people close to Trump revealed that he had privately questioned why the United States wanted to go to war for Taiwan. It is reported that Trump once raised a teaspoon and said, "This is Taiwan" while having lunch with guests at his golf club.

Representatives for Jen-Hsun Huang did not comment on this report. Trump and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on Trump's call to Huang.