---
title: "Trump knew about a spy next to Nvidia's chief and chose the stock"
description: "American agencies concluded a Singapore executive with direct access to Jensen Huang was reporting to Beijing, and the president, briefed roughly a year ago, did nothing. For Nvidia holders, the China reopening is a favor granted on market grounds, not a rule."
publisher: "The Inference"
section: "Chips"
published: 2026-10-29T13:19:22.318Z
modified: 2026-10-29T13:19:22.318Z
canonical: https://theinference.org/article/trump-knew-about-a-spy-next-to-nvidia-s-chief-and-chose-the-stock
language: en
keywords: "Nvidia, Jensen Huang, China, Export Controls, National Security, Donald Trump"
---

# Trump knew about a spy next to Nvidia's chief and chose the stock

> American agencies concluded a Singapore executive with direct access to Jensen Huang was reporting to Beijing, and the president, briefed roughly a year ago, did nothing. For Nvidia holders, the China reopening is a favor granted on market grounds, not a rule.

[American spy agencies concluded](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/29/us/politics/nvidia-china-jensen-huang-trump.html) that Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, a Chinese citizen and a top executive at a Singapore-based data center company, was funneling information to Beijing. Surveillance showed she had built a close relationship with [Jensen Huang](https://theinference.org/markets/people/jensen-huang), [Nvidia](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/nvidia)'s chief executive and, in one biographer's phrase, the president's most influential adviser on technology [1][3].

Roughly a year ago, President Trump was briefed on the findings and chose not to act, wary of disrupting Nvidia's chip sales and the stock market they lift, and of complicating the trade relationship with China [1]. Nothing has followed in the day since [the report landed](https://cryptobriefing.com/nvidia-ceo-huang-chinese-espionage-plot/): no company statement, no filing, no enforcement action [2].

## The stock already runs without China

Nvidia closed at $215.38 on October 28, a $5.2 trillion market cap at a trailing P/E of 27.2, on fiscal 2026 revenue of $215.9 billion, up 65.5%, with a 60.4% operating margin [2]. That stock sits just above the $211 short line flagged against the whole market last week ([Sam Kovacs sold Nvidia short at $211; a weekly close below $200 is his line for the whole market](https://theinference.org/article/sam-kovacs-sold-nvidia-short-at-211-a-weekly-close-below-200-is-his-line-for-the-whole-market), October 26) [2].

The China base has already eroded: Nvidia holds 34% of that AI chip market against [Huawei](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/huawei)'s 28% ([Nvidia falls to 34% of China's AI chip market as Huawei takes 28%](https://theinference.org/article/nvidia-falls-to-34-of-china-s-ai-chip-market-as-huawei-takes-28), October 13) [3]. The machine does not need China: sales of the H200 chip there ran under 1% of data center revenue in the most recent quarter [3].

*Chart: **Nvidia's quarterly revenue more than tripled while China stayed near zero** Line chart of Nvidia quarterly revenue rising from $26.0 billion in the quarter ended April 2024 to $96.2 billion in the quarter ended July 2026.*

*Nvidia quarterly revenue, US$ billions, fiscal quarters ended April 2024 through July 2026, from SEC filings. China sales of the H200 chip were under 1% of data center revenue in the latest quarter. Sources: Nvidia SEC filings (7); The Information via Ars Technica (3). [7][3]*

So a reopening is upside, not the base. What the president's inaction protects is that upside, and the door is already open a crack: China is weighing letting [Alibaba](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/alibaba) and [ByteDance](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/bytedance) buy Nvidia's RTX Pro 5500 chips, and ByteDance plans to order 1 million of them [3].

## Every proven case is a box; this one is a person

The smuggling record is all boxes. Greg Lui, a California company owner, was charged on October 1 with sending $300 million of Nvidia servers to China through Singapore and Malaysia [4][6].

Ting-Wei "Willy" Sun, a former [Super Micro](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/super-micro) contractor, [pleaded guilty on October 9](https://cryptobriefing.com/super-micro-contractor-pleads-guilty-nvidia-chips/) in a $2.5 billion diversion scheme, more than $510 million of it in three weeks [5]. The case the Times describes moves through people instead: an intelligence channel to the one figure with the most knowledge of where Nvidia's chips go [1], next to procurement records that show hundreds of requests for Nvidia AI chips from Chinese military entities since 2019, by one outlet's count [2].

## The case for shrugging has real numbers

The espionage findings are classified and sourced to anonymous officials, and the provable dollars are small: about $2.8 billion across both smuggling cases against $215.9 billion of annual revenue [4][5]. Nvidia says it follows export rules and that less than 0.5% of its products are diverted, a company-claimed figure [2][6].

Washington has picked Nvidia before: Trump [lifted H200 export controls](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/nvidia-may-sell-more-chips-in-china-as-jensen-huangs-influence-over-trump-grows/) after dinner with Huang at Mar-a-Lago, over objections from lawmakers and security experts [3].

## What decides it now

Watch three things. Whether the White House answers a story that documents its own enforcement as a market decision. Whether Beijing approves the ByteDance order [3]. Whether Huang, who snubbed a congressional invitation on smuggling [6], is summoned back. A policy exception a newspaper has now documented is not a rule. It is a favor, and favors get withdrawn.

## Takeaway

Nvidia's machine runs without China, but the reopening the market prices is a presidential favor documented by the Times, and favors can be withdrawn.

## Sources

1. [The New York Times, Nvidia Chief Seen as Target of Chinese Spy Plot, 29 October 2026](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/29/us/politics/nvidia-china-jensen-huang-trump.html)
2. [Crypto Briefing, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang targeted in Chinese espionage plot, NY Times reports, 29 October 2026](https://cryptobriefing.com/nvidia-ceo-huang-chinese-espionage-plot/)
3. [Ars Technica, Experts worry about Nvidia's AI chip sales in China and influence over Trump, 28 September 2026](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/nvidia-may-sell-more-chips-in-china-as-jensen-huangs-influence-over-trump-grows/)
4. [Courthouse News Service, California man charged with smuggling $300 million in restricted AI hardware to China, 1 October 2026](https://www.courthousenews.com/california-man-charged-with-smuggling-300-million-in-restricted-ai-hardware-to-china/)
5. [Crypto Briefing, Super Micro contractor pleads guilty in Nvidia AI chip rerouting scheme, 9 October 2026](https://cryptobriefing.com/super-micro-contractor-pleads-guilty-nvidia-chips/)
6. [Ars Technica, US arrests tech CEO accused of smuggling $300M in Nvidia chips into China, 2 October 2026](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/us-arrests-tech-ceo-accused-of-smuggling-300m-in-nvidia-chips-into-china/)
7. [Nvidia quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 29 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001045810)


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Trump knew about a spy next to Nvidia's chief and chose the stock — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/trump-knew-about-a-spy-next-to-nvidia-s-chief-and-chose-the-stock