Nvidia's Future, Trump's Ties to Huang, US Mediates Russia-Ukraine Talks

NVIDIA founder, Jemson Huang, is out as CEO after alleged affairs with two employees and a suspected Chinese spy. Can the company powering the AI boom stay on top without him? I'm Michelle Martin, that's A Martinas, and this is up first from NPR News. Huang had unusual access to President Trump from Mar-a-Lago dinners to trips abroad. Now lawmakers from both parties want answers about what the administration knew about Huang's affairs and when, how much to the relationship influence US chip policy toward China. And after separate meetings with presidents Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky, US envoys say European governments can join the next round of Russia Ukraine talks, could that mean progress in ending the war? Stay with us or got news you need to start your day. NVIDIA CEO Jemson Huang is out, and the company's chief financial officer is taking over as interim CEO. This comes after allegations that Huang had multiple affairs, including with a woman who may have been recruited by China to spy on him. NPR tech correspondent John Ruich has been following the saga. He joins us now to discuss NVIDIA's future. So all right, John Jemson Huang is out, who is his in-house replacement. The board said the company's CFO Colette Cress is stepping into the role while they search for a permanent replacement for Huang. Cress is a longtime NVIDIA executive. She joined NVIDIA 13 years ago after working in finance at tech companies for many years before that. Jemson Huang was very much the public face of the company, but Cress has been prominent. She has, for instance, been on dozens of earnings calls alongside Huang when the company reports it's quarterly results. So she's a known quantity inside NVIDIA with its investors and with companies it does business with. All right, so right now it feels like NVIDIA is in a big mess. I mean, how substantial are the challenges she faces right now? Yeah, they are immense. NVIDIA is a linchpin of the AI economy and by extension the US economy because it makes the most widely used chips powering the AI revolution. But it just lost a visionary leader who deserves a lot of credit for building the company and making it into the juggernaut that it is. I mean, it has an 80 to 90 percent market share in chips called graphics processing units or GPUs that AI runs on. Tammy Madson is a professor at Santa Clara University's Levy School of Business. She says a major order of business for Cress is going to be reassuring the world that NVIDIA still has its mojo, especially at a time when the share price has been falling because of the crisis. I mean, I think for her it's important to sort of provide confidence back to the market that we are going to turn this around. And here's the steps we're taking to move forward. NVIDIA shares have been trending downward and are off more than 10 percent since last Friday before the will saga blew up over the weekend. Going forward, Cress has a balancing act managing some serious short-term challenges and NVIDIA's long-term strategy. As of what might that look like? Well, short-term, there will be fallout from Jensen Huang's downfall. There's an internal investigation into Huang's affair with the Chinese woman that will play out at NVIDIA. Congress is also preparing to probe the spy allegations, which could put the company under a hotspot light. Then there are all the relationships with NVIDIA's partners and the deals that Huang handled that are going to have to be tended to. That includes some of the so-called circular financing agreements where NVIDIA invests money in companies that then turn around and buy chips for data centers. Now luckily, Cress's CFO will be intimately familiar with those arrangements. So that's a plus. On the tech front, NVIDIA is king of the hill on AI chips because it makes really popular gold standard products. And Cress is going to have to make sure that NVIDIA stays on point to protect market share. It is a very healthy organization. They've been moving forward on a strong strategy. But I think what needs to remain strong is that long-term vision. It sounds like Cress has an over-full plate. I mean, is she set up her success or not? The company is in a strong market position. Demand for its products is not expected to drop off anytime soon, just because more and more people are using AI. One question to watch is how much trust and leeway the board gives Cress as she runs the company. They're making the right noises, though, in a statement online, the board chairman said they have, quote, "full confidence in her and the leadership team," and that they expect the company's operations, customer commitments, and product roadmap to continue without interruption. All right. That's NPR's John Ruhr. It's John. Thanks a lot. You're welcome, man. Former NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wong's resignation is much more than a tech story. It also has consequences for members of the U.S. government. The president has been very friendly with Wong this term, and now there are questions about who knew what and when about Wong's extramarital relationship, what the affair partner's motivations may have been, and how all this affects U.S. policy. NPR White House correspondent Daniel Kurtzleben is here to talk about this. Daniel, let's find out the latest on this because the two men are very, very close. So what's the president been saying about Wong? Well, Trump has remained very supportive. On Monday, he said he had talked to Wong that day, quote, "just to see if he's feeling all right." And after Wong's resignation, Trump said he had done a fantastic job. Now, as to what comes next, Trump said he wants former Apple CEO Tim Cook to take over the company. Of course, it's not up to Trump, and we haven't heard a response from Cook yet. But however Trump feels about Wong, all of this is now raising some really serious questions for the White House, especially Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik. Oh, why that? Well, Commerce handles imports and exports. So a big question here is, should the U.S. have more tightly restricted the chips at exports? And so lawmakers from both parties have been saying they want more information from Lutnik, especially about timing. One big thing at issue is when did he know that Wong was in contact with a suspected Chinese asset? And what did or didn't he do in response? And last night, South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, chair of the banking committee, said he's summoning Wong and Lutnik to hearings in December. Now Trump, for his part, said this week that he didn't recall receiving a memo with information about a suspected Chinese asset. When it comes to Trump and Wong, I mean, what's their relationship look like? Well, at least publicly, it's been a love fest. Trump has praised Wong a lot. Wong has spent a lot of time with the president in turn. He's visited the White House in Mar-a-Lago. He went to the UK for the president's state visit last year, and he went with the president to China this year. But there's more than visits at work here. Wong and the White House negotiated that the government would get a 15% cut of the sales of certain NVIDIA chips to China. And there's also this big question of what Wong's influence is. Here's one example. In spring of 2025, Wong attended a $1 million ahead dinner at Mar-a-Lago. And as my colleagues Emily Fang and Bobby Allen reported at the time, the Trump administration had been expected to restrict sales to China of an NVIDIA chip called the H-20. Well, then after that dinner, the White House put the H-20 restrictions on hold and NVIDIA promised new investments in U.S. AI centers. Now, we can't draw the direct cause and effect line there, but there's good reason to think this relationship has been great for Wong and NVIDIA. And now the president will be visiting China next week. I mean, how does all that affect this trip? Well, Trump was asked about this this weekend. He didn't have much to say on the subject. But it is possible that this doesn't really impact Trump and she's conversations much at all. Kurt Tong is managing partner at the Asia Group. That's a consulting firm. And he told my colleague Deepa Shiveram this this week. I think the main impact is here in the United States, where there are calls for accountability with respect to Mr. Wong's activities. And the net result of that is to provide a tailwind to persons who are interested in tightening up the technology denial regime toward China. Now, AI is always a major topic when the two leaders meet, so they'll discuss it. But for now, all eyes are really on that accountability piece and those potential restrictions. That's M.P.R. Daniel, Kurt Slaven thinks a lot. You're welcome. White House on voice, Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner have been racking up the miles this week. All in a pursuit of an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, first they let peace talks in Abu Dhabi. Then they were on to Moscow for a meeting with Russian President Belgrade Putin, followed by a trip to Ireland where they met up with Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky. To discuss what progress was or maybe wasn't made toward peace, we're joined out by M.P.R.'s Charles Mainz in Moscow. Charles, so let's start with their visit with Putin. What struck you from that meeting? Yeah, sure. Both sides noted positive momentum on the humanitarian track of negotiations, including a mass prisoner swap that's in the offing. But the real focus this week has been on this idea of building a new security framework between Russia and Europe, Kushner in particular sees this as the way to unlock concessions towards ending the actual war. But it's meant also trying to get Europe to the negotiating table, which Russia's refused to do, citing Europe's military support to Ukraine. So fundamentally, incoming to Moscow, Kushner was there to make a pitch. We've seen a big change with the Europeans and we think there's a very strong momentum and desire to engage together. All right, so how do Putin respond? Well, in his public comments, Putin wasn't particularly receptive. He accused Europe of prolonging the war through its military support for Kiev. He categorically ruled out this idea of European peacekeepers on the ground to help guarantee a future security in Ukraine. St. Russia would regard these soldiers as legitimate military targets. Here's Putin speaking through a Kremlin interpreter. But often that peace deal is done in Ukraine, they are going to deploy their troops. And it's a continuation of the war, which would mean a continued war. of the war. So this is an English circle. Now, A. Whitcoff later said Putin had agreed to include Europeans in the future talks. This is what the US was after, although a Kremlin aid, who briefed reporters afterwards, made no mention of that. But I'll say this, you know, Putin has always framed the war in Ukraine around grievances over Russia's treatment after the end of the Cold War and NATO's expansion east. So, European security is clearly an issue Russia wants on the table, at least in some form. Okay. The next stop then was Ireland, where they met with Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky. Yeah. Talk about a change of venues. Whitcoff and Kushner went from the Kremlin Grand Hall to meeting Zelensky in a small lounge at a military air base in Dublin. Now, Zelensky welcomed the news that the Europeans will apparently be part of future negotiations. That's something Europe also pushed for, really out of fear that Russia and US could cut some deal without Europe's involvement. Zelensky also said he hoped the new European presence would somehow help achieve a ceasefire. Okay. So, with Europe now in the negotiating room, I mean, is that progress, technically? Well, you know, Kushner certainly seems to think so, because the US is attempts to negotiate ceasefires with Russia or push for territorial concessions from Ukraine really haven't worked. You know, but this focus on European security is also exposed to split between the Trump administration and European allies. One where the White House now takes these Russian complaints about the threat posed by NATO seriously or at least thinks they can't be ignored if this was to somehow be negotiated to an end. While the Europeans say, hold on, why should Putin be rewarded with the say-and-our security, particularly given all the damage he's done in Ukraine? That's MPR's Charles Mainz in Moscow, thanks a lot, Charles. Thanks, Abe. And that's a first for Friday, November 13th, I mean, Martinez. And I am Michelle Martin. Today's episode of a first was edited by Cara Platoni, Rebecca Mechler, Tina Kriya, Muhammad El-Bardisi, and Alice Wolflieg. It was produced by Zia Butch and Mia Dumas. Our director is Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Nishahinis and Patrick Murray, our technical director's Margaret Luford, and our executive producer is Jay Shehler. We hope you'll join us again on Monday. [MUSIC]