让我们回想几周前那个更简单的时期，当时被指为中国上当受骗者的，是那些对人工智能表达担忧的美国人——而不是引领这场行业浪潮的那个人。那时，黄仁勋还是那个穿着黑色皮夹克、手持扩音器为人工智能摇旗呐喊的“酷先生”。作为英伟达的联合创始人，他带领这家公司跻身全球市值最高的企业之列，靠的就是押注自家芯片能驱动这项快速发展的技术。
Let’s remember a simpler time, just a few weeks ago, when the supposed China dupes were those Americans raising concerns about AI—not the guy leading the industry’s charge. Back then, Jensen Huang was Mr. Cool with a black leather jacket and megaphone of support for artificial intelligence. As co-founder of Nvidia, he led one of the most valuable companies in the world thanks to his bet on his chips powering the development of the rapidly developing technology.
黄仁勋的判断是人工智能热潮的基石——他激起的热情、他兜售的未来愿景，不仅面向投资者，也面向白宫和其他世界领导人。其他美国CEO想成为他——或者至少想讨好他，以期拿到关乎成败的GPU供货——而女性显然想和他在一起。在人工智能狂热的高峰期，黄仁勋甚至在一场贸易展上为一名仰慕他的女粉丝在胸口签名。
Huang’s judgment was an underpinning of the AI boom—the enthusiasm he stoked, the vision of the future he sold, not just to investors but the White House and other world leaders. Other American CEOs wanted to be him—or, at least, curry favor with him in hopes of landing make-or-break shipments of GPUs—while women, apparently, wanted to be with him. During the peak of the AI exuberance, Huang even autographed an adoring female fan’s chest at a trade show.
当时感觉轻松随意。两年后回头看，也许并非最佳判断。如今，这位芯片大佬的判断成了所有人唯一想谈论的话题，因为他在周日承认了一段婚外情。处于争议中心的那名女性曾是英伟达客户Megaspeed International的高管，被怀疑为中国从事间谍活动。还有许多问题有待解答。但最大的问题之一是，这桩丑闻是否会戳破许多人眼中过于狂热的AI投资泡沫——一个可能痛苦地波及许多美国人401(k)退休账户和养老金的触发点。
It felt lighthearted in the moment. In hindsight, two years later, perhaps not the best judgment. Now, the chip guy’s judgment is all anyone wants to talk about, after he admitted Sunday to an extramarital affair. The woman at the center of the controversy, who was a top executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed International, is suspected of spying for China. There are so many questions yet to be answered. But one of the biggest is whether this scandal will pop what many see as an overzealous AI investment bubble—a trigger that could ripple painfully through the 401(k)s and pension plans of many Americans.
黄仁勋作为英伟达CEO的前途存疑。股价周一下跌，周二继续下滑。公司董事会表示对CEO有信心，正在调查他的行为。他还被传唤到国会作证。许多人想知道，对于Megaspeed试图获取英伟达芯片以帮助中国、可能违反美国出口限制的行为，他究竟知道些什么。
Huang’s future as CEO of Nvidia is in question. Shares fell Monday and continued their slide Tuesday. The company’s board, which said it has confidence in its CEO, is investigating his actions. And he’s being called to Congress to testify. Many want to know what he knew about Megaspeed’s efforts to acquire Nvidia chips to help China in potential violation of U.S. export restrictions. (The People’s Republic of China has denied the accusations.)“Recent reports raise significant national-security concerns regarding the PRC’s access to sensitive U.S. technology and information,” a letter Monday to Huang from the chairmen of three House committees said.
（中华人民共和国否认了这些指控。）“近期的报道引发了重大的国家安全担忧，涉及中国获取敏感的美国技术和信息，”众议院三个委员会主席周一致函黄仁勋称。黄仁勋似乎也违反了其公司自身的利益冲突政策。“我们避免出现我们的行为可能在个人利益与我们对英伟达的义务之间产生冲突——无论是实际的还是潜在的——的情况，”公司在其网站上表示。
Huang seems also to have violated his company’s own conflicts-of-interest policy.“We avoid situations where our actions might create a conflict—actual or potential—between our personal gain and our obligations to Nvidia,” the company says on its website.
公司警告称，个人关系可能会造成此类冲突。确实如此。随着英伟达面临日益严格的投资者审视和股价下跌，涉及首席执行官黄仁勋的争议引发了关于这家芯片巨头稳定性的疑问。《华尔街日报》的罗比·惠兰解释了其中的利害关系。现年63岁的黄仁勋并非首位陷入尴尬私人关系纠葛的首席执行官，他极有可能保住职位。
The company warns that personal relationships could create such conflicts. Indeed. As Nvidia faces growing investor scrutiny and a falling share price, the controversy involving CEO Jensen Huang raises questions about the chip giant’s stability. WSJ’s Robbie Whelan explains what’s at stake. Photo: Annegret Hilse/ReutersHuang, 63 years old, isn’t the first CEO with embarrassing bedroom entanglements and he may very well hang on to his job.
这类丑闻总是围绕领导者的判断力展开。如果麦当劳首席执行官发生不正当关系，对相关人员而言可能令人羞耻。或许，股东会因公司动荡而受损。但归根结底，汉堡包的未来并不在讨论范围之内。黄仁勋所倡导的无异于“下一次工业革命”。他是美好未来的代言人，是动荡时期的抚慰剂。美国数据中心的建设——其中许多需要英伟达芯片——被视为对美国经济至关重要。
These sorts of scandals always center around a leader’s judgment. If the CEO of, say, McDonald’s has an improper liaison, it is potentially humiliating for those involved. Maybe, shareholders are punished amid the disruption at the company. Ultimately, though, the future of cheeseburgers isn’t at stake. What Huang has been championing is nothing short of “the next industrial revolution.”He was the face of a better future, a soothe for an uncertain time. The build-out of U.S. data centers, many of which require Nvidia chips, is seen as critical to the U.S. economy.
然而，对人工智能的担忧以及对通胀的忧虑，助推了民主党在中途选举中的胜利，使国会控制权将在明年1月发生翻转。近几个月来，他的影响力得到了充分展现。在安全担忧方面，他成为反对新监管呼声的主要声音，而人工智能加速主义者认为，这些监管可能会拖慢发展。黄仁勋团结业界，反对限制开源人工智能的努力。
Yet AI worries, along with inflation concerns, helped fuel Democratic Party victories in midterm elections, flipping the control of Congress come January. His power had been on full display in recent months. When it came to safety concerns, he became a leading voice in opposing calls for new regulations that AI accelerationists say could slow development. Huang rallied the industry against efforts to restrict open-source AI, a technology China is rapidly developing that some researchers warn could pose security risks.
中国正在快速发展这项技术，一些研究人员警告说，它可能带来安全风险。“世界既需要前沿的闭源模型，也需要前沿的开源模型，”他在7月首次亮相X平台时发帖写道。（英伟达也在开发开源模型。）随后在9月，他再次出面，全力反击日益高涨的监管呼声。此前，Anthropic的员工因对这项技术可能终结人类表达担忧而受到主流关注。
“The world needs both frontier closed models and frontier open models,” he posted in his debut appearance on X in July. (Nvidia is also developing open-source models.) Then in September, he emerged again with a full-court press to counter growing calls for regulations after Anthropic employees gained mainstream attention for raising concerns about the technology ending humanity.
“安全是一个工程问题，”他保证道。在幕后，他一直积极推动允许他的芯片在中国销售，并推动美国撤销某些出口限制。“我尽我所能告知美国政策制定者，与中国市场接触的重要性，并确保我们尽可能长久地服务这个市场。我认为我们犯了一个错误，而这个错误很难挽回，”黄仁勋在接受彭博新闻社采访时说。该采访于上月录制，本周发布。
“Safety is an engineering problem,” he assured. Behind the scenes, he has aggressively pushed to allow his chips to be sold in China and for the U.S. to reverse certain export restrictions.“I did my best to inform the policymakers in the United States of the importance of engaging the Chinese markets and making sure that we serve that market for as long as we can. I think we made a mistake and this mistake is hard to unwind,” Huang told Bloomberg News in an interview recorded last month and released this week.
“尽管我们与中国竞争，但他们不是我们的敌人，”他补充道。或许，黄仁勋作为人工智能最大代言人的地位，在今年夏末得到了最好的体现，当时民粹主义对人工智能的抵制日益高涨。科技行业对围绕人工智能技术实体表现日益增多的公众抗议措手不及——无论是人工智能数据中心的建设，还是Flock摄像头的使用。
“Although we compete against China they are not our enemies,” he added. Perhaps, Huang’s position as AI’s biggest spokesman was best on display late this summer amid growing populist pushback to AI. The tech industry had been caught off guard by growing public protests around the physical manifestation of AI technology—whether it was the construction of AI data centers or use of Flock cameras.
作为回应，科技界和白宫方面暗示，反对人工智能的人是受了包括中国在内的外国势力的欺骗。特朗普总统与黄仁勋在“All-In Podcast”会议上交谈，总统通过电话、这位CEO在现场。特朗普多次暗示，围绕人工智能的担忧是中国推动的骗局，目的是减缓进展。“你说得对，先生，我们不会让那种事发生，”黄仁勋说。现在的危险在于，随着新的调查和监管呼声出现，黄仁勋自己与中国的牵连很可能恰恰会造成这种结果。
In response, those in tech and the White House suggested AI opponents were being duped by foreign powers, including China. President Trump and Huang talked about the growing doomerism during an appearance at the “All-In Podcast” conference, the president by telephone and CEO on stage. At various points, Trump suggested concerns around AI were a hoax pushed by China aimed at slowing progress. “You’re right, we’re not going to let that happen, sir,” Huang said. The danger now is that Huang’s own entanglement with China could very well do just that amid new investigations and calls for regulations.
这个行业可能会失去它最响亮的声音。然而，这也可能是一次很好的考验。这一事件对人工智能的发展势头很危险，但如果这是一场真正的产业革命——而不只是一个由穿皮夹克的炒作高手吹起来的泡沫——那么黄仁勋是否执掌英伟达其实就不应该重要。或者他是否还有发言权，也不应该重要。请致信蒂姆·希金斯，邮箱：tim.higgins@wsj.com
The industry could lose its loudest voice. Yet it also might be a good test. This episode is dangerous for the AI momentum but if it is a real revolution of industry—and not just a bubble pumped up by a hype man in a leather jacket—then it really shouldn’t matter if Huang is running Nvidia. Or if he has a voice at all. Write to Tim Higgins at tim.higgins@wsj.com