A German government spokesperson said Monday in response to a barrage of questions on the upheaval at Nvidia that it “does not comment on the media reports,” and that “we always adhere to the highest standards, including when agreements are being reached.” A European Commission spokesperson also had no comment on the matter.
In both Silicon Valley and Washington, investigators are already busy. Nvidia has opened an internal investigation into whether its CEO was targeted by a Chinese intelligence operation, after Huang developed an intimate relationship with a Chinese businesswoman suspected of trying to funnel intel on U.S. chips to Beijing. Huang has admitted publicly to having an affair.
The U.S. Congress, particularly its factions wary of China, is also set to take action. “The U.S. should immediately pause the shipment of advanced AI chips to China until we can get to the bottom of this incident and ensure our national security is not being undermined,” Rep. Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas, and former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on X.
In Brussels, the blow to the Silicon Valley giant might appear to be good news for those who warn of U.S. tech dominance in the AI race. But as with the recent results of the midterm elections, the woes at Nvidia don’t change Europe’s reality because the bloc is so reliant on the company’s AI chips.
“We don’t have any alternative, the design [of chips] is almost entirely U.S.,” said Dutch European Parliament lawmaker Bart Groothuis, one of the negotiators of the bloc’s latest chipmaking plan.
Groothuis decried Nvidia’s “bizarre monopoly position.”