Chris Coons: must investigate if national security was compromised
US senator Chris Coons is calling for a congressional investigation into Nvidia and CEO Jensen Huang.
Posting on X, Coons – a Democrat – says:
I’m pushing to investigate Jensen Huang and Nvidia to determine whether our national security was compromised. We need answers about the relationship between AI billionaires and the Trump administration, who’s making these decisions, and who’s really got their hand on the wheel.
Introduction: Nvidia hit by shareholder lawsuit
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
The fallout over Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy is intensifying, after the AI chipmaking firm has been hit with a shareholder lawsuit.
According to a complaint filed in federal court in San Jose, California, the defendants misled shareholders about Huang’s alleged affair with Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore-based Megaspeed, and did not disclose that the matter raised national security concerns that threatened Nvidia’s reputation and business prospects.
The suit also claims that Huang’s failure to disclose the affair artificially inflated Nvidia’s share price, and could have violated federal securities laws, Politico reported.
Nvidia’s share price took a knock yesterday – falling by 3.2% and cutting the company’s valuation by almost $200bn, to $4.3tn.
Huang’s reputation has taken a serious knock, after he admitted being unfaithful to his wife following reports of an affair with Nvidia customer and alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang.
As Megaspeed has been accused of illicitly smuggling and diverting restricted Nvidia chips to China, the ramifications are serious.
Donald Trump weighed in over the scandal yesterday, telling reporters:
“I asked him [Mr Huang] about that and he said he had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy.”
Trump also told a news conference that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation was involved in the case, saying:
“We’ll look into it. I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else.”
The agenda
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8am GMT: Worldpanel UK supermarket inflation data
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From 9am GMT: Bank of England Watchers’ Conference in London
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11am GMT: NFIB index of US business optimism
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1.30pm GMT: US inflation report for October
