The AI poster boy, the'Chinese spy' and Trump: how an affair may have harmed US security Jensen Huang's close relationship with president means Nvidia CEO's affair with woman alleged to be working for Beijing is a big deal A hand on the back, a kiss on the cheek; the footage of Alice Huang's interaction with Jensen Huang in a Taipei venue last year does not seem particularly remarkable at first glance. But the Nvidia chief executive's revelation on Sunday that he had an affair with Ms Huang has given it new significance. According to reports, his lover, who is not a relation, was not just an executive at an Nvidia customer. She was also an alleged Chinese spy. Nvidia has now launched an independent investigation into reports that the boss of a cornerstone company in the global AI boom has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort.

Why is Nvidia's Jensen Huang at the centre of a US-China spy scandal? Share Why is Nvidia's Jensen Huang at the centre of a US-China spy scandal? on social media Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is facing questions over allegations that a Chinese businesswoman with whom he had a romantic relationship was gathering intelligence for Beijing. Huang - who cofounded Nvidia, the world's second-most valuable company after Apple, more than three decades ago - admitted on Sunday to being unfaithful to his wife, but the company said it has no reason to believe United States national security or confidential information has been compromised. "The Board prioritizes US national and economic security, which is paramount to the interests of NVIDIA and its shareholders," it said in a statement, adding that Jensen Huang fully backs the review. After the revelations, Nvidia - whose market capitalisation of $4.5 trillion is higher than the gross domestic product (GDP) of Japan, the world's fourth-largest economy - saw its stock price tumble by more than 4 percent in trading overnight into Monday. The controversy erupted as Washington seeks to prevent China from obtaining advanced American semiconductors, including Nvidia's most powerful artificial intelligence chips, as the US and China fiercely compete for AI supremacy.

Nvidia's chief executive, Jensen Huang, and his wife, Lori Huang, with Apple's Tim Cook at the top table during a state dinner hosted by Donald Trump for Xi Jinping at the White House in September. Nvidia's chief executive, Jensen Huang, and his wife, Lori Huang, with Apple's Tim Cook at the top table during a state dinner hosted by Donald Trump for Xi Jinping at the White House in September. Nvidia said on Sunday it "is initiating an independent investigation in light of recent reporting that founder and CEO Jensen Huang has been the target of a foreign intelligence effort". The New York Times reported in October that Donald Trump had been briefed last year on intelligence that Huang had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who passed information to Beijing. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump downplayed the revelations about Huang, who is an influential adviser to the president on artificial intelligence, saying: "I think he's an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it."

SoftBank Group and ABB are studying how the Chinese business, which is ABB Robotics' largest single market, could be separated out, according to people familiar with the matter. SoftBank Group and ABB are looking at carving out the Chinese part of a giant robotics deal as they explore ways to salvage a transaction blocked by Beijing, according to people familiar with the matter. The two companies and their advisers are trying to find a solution after China's powerful Office of the Working Mechanism for Foreign Investment Security Review on Thursday halted SoftBank's move to acquire the ABB unit valued at $5.4 billion. They are studying how the Chinese business, which is ABB Robotics' largest single market, could be separated out, the people said. SoftBank is leading the push, people added, asking not to be identified as the talks were private.

Asian markets plunged Friday, tracking a sell-off in Western stocks as investors feared Democrats' US midterm victory could bring tighter AI regulation and greater resistance to data centre expansion. Al Jazeera's Katrina Yu is tracking the numbers in Beijing. In Athens's pro-Palestinian heartland, Israeli buyers spark resentment Building wind turbines out of parts found in Gaza's rubble Paraguay's president impeached amid bank collapse crisis

Jianghao Huo, the chief technology officer of Dreame's embodied intelligence business, sees an opportunity to use breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and robotics to free people from any task they consider drudgery. At the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing this August, spectators flocked to the unique display of emerging tech -- robots sprinting at superhuman speeds and soaring to new records in the high jump. But perhaps more important for the future of mankind was the subdued training for mundane tasks people do every day. In one sedate section of the convention hall, robots competed to make beds neatly, serve drinks without spilling and tidy rooms like Marie Kondo. One Chinese-designed humanoid hung laundry and folded clothes, then paused mid-chore to collect a package at the door before resuming laundry duty.

China's robot makers have mastered the moves. Now comes the race for brains. A Spirit AI's Moz1 humanoid robot serves candied hawthorn on sticks, simulating a cafe as a demonstration, at the 2026 Zhongguancun forum, in Beijing on March 25. Beijing - After years of building humanoid robots capable of running, dancing and performing backflips, Chinese companies are pouring resources into a different challenge: developing the artificial intelligence that could make those machines useful across a wider range of jobs. The shift is fueling an investment boom in embodied AI, a field focused on software that allows robots to understand their surroundings, learn unfamiliar tasks and adapt without having to be programmed for every job.

Palantir's defense chief sees China threat to Taiwan over AI Palantir defense chief Mike Gallagher has said that Taiwan's importance to AI development has grown to the point that Chinese leader Xi Jinping may need to act on Beijing's designs toward the island. Palantir Technologies' head of defense Mike Gallagher is warning that advances in artificial intelligence capabilities have made it more compelling for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to seize control of Taiwan, a chipmaking hub that has helped fuel the global AI boom. Gallagher, a former Republican member of Congress who led a hawkish House committee focused on U.S. strategic competition with China, said on Wednesday that Taiwan's importance to AI development has grown to the point that Xi may need to act on Beijing's designs toward the island -- especially in light of the competition between the U.S. and China to dominate the technology. "The logic of Xi Jinping sacrificing enormously to take Taiwan is getting more compelling," Gallagher said at a defense policy event in Indiana with Republican Sen. Jim Banks. "If we run away with AI, now is his moment to stop us from doing that, because he may not be able to catch up later on."

China's CXMT to start advanced AI memory production despite poor yields, sources say The logo of China's top memory chipmaker CXMT can be seen on the facade of company's production facility in Beijing on July 29. China's CXMT plans to start production of HBM3E, an advanced type of high-bandwidth memory chip used with AI processors, despite as little as 20% of the chips it makes being usable, two people familiar with the matter said. The decision highlights China's intense shortage of the AI memory chips, which are essential to a government-backed push to develop domestic alternatives to Nvidia's AI processors at scale amid U.S. curbs on access to foreign-made technology. ChangXin Memory Technologies -- China's largest maker of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), the conventional memory used in computers and servers -- has sent HBM3E samples to several domestic AI chip designers, the people said. It expects to begin limited production over the next two months, one person said.

Beijing has doubled down on robotics - also known as embodied AI - as the key to rolling out the technology across society. Beijing has doubled down on robotics - also known as embodied AI - as the key to rolling out the technology across society. Lack of profits and the threat posed by western countries are raising concern about the sustainability of Beijing's AI boom Trillions of dollars have been wiped from China's stock markets in recent months amid increasing anxiety about the future of artificial intelligence, as Beijing races against the United States for dominance in the sector. The STAR 50 Index, which tracks technology and innovation companies on the Shanghai stock exchange, has plunged 40% since June. Other indexes of major companies dropped by about 20% over the same time period.