The New York Times reports:

President Trump was told aboard Air Force One in May en route to China that the United States had obtained sensitive intelligence showing that Nvidia’s chief executive was in a relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The message was delivered by Marco Rubio, his secretary of state and national security adviser, shortly before the Nvidia leader, Jensen Huang, joined the presidential trip to Beijing at Mr. Trump’s invitation. It marked at least the second time in seven months that the president had been told of intelligence about Mr. Huang’s involvement with the woman.

The existence of the previously unreported update given to Mr. Trump contradicts the president’s assertion on Monday that he had not known at the time of the trip about Mr. Huang’s relationship with the woman, who U.S. officials had concluded was working for China’s Ministry of State Security.

“No, I didn’t hear about it then,” Mr. Trump said when asked at a news conference whether he knew about Mr. Huang’s ties to the woman when he headed to a summit meeting with Xi Jinping, China’s leader.

The disclosures about the relationship have rocked the company and driven down its stock price. They have focused new attention on the intensity of the competition between China and the United States for supremacy in artificial intelligence — a rivalry in which Nvidia’s advanced chips are integral to the current American advantage. And they have put a new spotlight on Mr. Huang’s influence with Mr. Trump and the administration on A.I. policy and issues affecting Nvidia.

Ever since American officials first warned him last year that a woman having an affair with Mr. Huang was believed to be working for Chinese intelligence, Mr. Trump has played down or dismissed the concerns. When first briefed on the issue late last fall, Mr. Trump chose to take no action, The New York Times reported last month.

When pressed on Monday about whether he had received a briefing on the issue last year, Mr. Trump, who has embraced Nvidia as key to U.S. technology competitiveness and a driver of the stock market’s rise over the past several years, said he would have to check.

“I’d certainly check with the intelligence people,” he said. “They could have been mentioned. Certainly, it didn’t make much of an impact on me.” [Continue reading…]