Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Trump administration officials about one of their biggest corporate allies' ties to an alleged spy this spring, and was met with silence, according to a new report.
The New York Times reported Sunday that Rubio told Trump administration officials about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's ties to an alleged Chinese spy, Alice Huang, about a year ago, citing "multiple people briefed on the matter." The report was published the same day as Nvidia's board of directors had opened an independent investigation into Huang's ties to the alleged spy. Jensen and Alice Huang are not related.
However, Rubio's warnings seemed to fall on deaf ears inside the administration, the New York Times reported. For instance, it said President Donald Trump waved off concerns about Huang because he views the company as central to America's competitive advantage over China in artificial intelligence and a key player in the recent stock market rally.
The report also raises questions about some of the policies Huang, whom the report describes as "a pivotal figure in the explosive growth of A.I., remained an influential voice with Mr. Trump over policy on the issue," has lobbied for.
"Mr. Huang has opposed calls for more tightly regulating the export of the most advanced A.I. chips and has pushed to be able to sell all but the most recently developed technology to China, the main competitor to the United States in the global rush for A.I. supremacy," according to the report.