萨姆·萨顿、索菲娅·蔡、阿里·霍金斯、雅各布·温德勒、布伦丹·博德隆、欧文·达尔坎普报道所有人都知道黄仁勋和唐纳德·特朗普有交流。
By Sam Sutton, Sophia Cai, Ari Hawkins, Jacob Wendler, Brendan Bordelon, Owen Dahlkamp Everyone knows Jensen Huang talks to Donald Trump.
今年8月，英伟达首席执行官在一场全员会议上特意接听了总统的电话。9月，当华盛顿因人工智能安全担忧而群情激愤时，他又在All-In峰会上这样做了一次。
Nvidia’s CEO made a point of picking up the phone for the president during an all-hands meeting in August. He did it again at the All-In Summit in September when Washington was afire over AI safety concerns.
但这些友好的互动也凸显出，黄仁勋与特朗普的密切关系——以及他对英伟达游说运作的深度掌控——对于该公司成为全球最有价值的企业之一不可或缺。
But those friendly exchanges also emphasized how Huang’s close ties to Trump — along with his intense management of Nvidia’s lobbying operation — have been indispensable to making it one of the world’s most valuable companies.
如今，黄仁勋因与一名据称是中国间谍的人有婚外情而受到调查，他作为英伟达对外形象和首席代言人的核心角色，使这位科技界最有权势的高管成为两党议员的重点目标，也让外界怀疑英伟达的命运能否与其联合创始人的命运分开。
Now, with Huang under investigation over an affair with an alleged Chinese spy, his central role as Nvidia’s public face and chief advocate has made the most powerful executive in tech a major target for lawmakers from both parties, casting doubt on whether Nvidia’s fortunes can be separated from those of its co-founder.
与华盛顿的许多大型科技同行不同，英伟达缺乏成熟的政治基础设施，无法帮助它挺过这场迅速席卷公司的丑闻。公司股价暴跌，国会山的民主党和共和党人威胁要展开调查，对华鹰派以及大型科技竞争对手正试图利用这一虚弱时刻，推动对向中国出口芯片实施更严格的限制。
Unlike many of its Big Tech peers in Washington, Nvidia lacks the sophisticated political infrastructure that could help it weather the scandal that swiftly engulfed the company. Its stock has plunged, Capitol Hill Democrats and Republicans are threatening probes and China hawks along with Big Tech competitors are trying to capitalize on the moment of weakness to push through stricter curbs on chips exports to China.
特朗普仍站在黄仁勋一边。但据为本文接受采访的十多名游说人士、高管、前政府官员和行业分析师称，这场丑闻正在耗尽公司及其首席执行官在特朗普2.0时代积累的政治资本。
Trump has stuck with Huang. But the scandal is draining the company of the political capital that its CEO had accumulated during the Trump 2.0 era, according to more than a dozen lobbyists, executives, former administration officials and industry analysts who were interviewed for this story.
“如果你的个人品牌与公司品牌绑在一起，你就必须考虑：‘我的替补阵容是什么样？谁准备好走到聚光灯下？’”前外交官、巴拉克·奥巴马总统的顾问布雷特·布鲁恩说。他如今经营公共事务与危机传播公司“全球局势室”。“英伟达显然完全没有做这样的准备，这既令人震惊，也愚蠢得难以置信。”布鲁恩补充说：“他们不仅损失了市值。他们还失去了——在某些情况下甚至不可挽回地损害了——与政府、客户和投资者的关系。”一些直接与该公司打过交道的人说得更直白。
“If you have a personal brand that’s tied to the corporate brand, you have to think about: ‘What’s my bench look like? Who’s gonna be ready to step up into the spotlight?’” said Brett Bruen, a former diplomat and adviser to President Barack Obama who now runs the public affairs and crisis communications firm the Global Situation Room. “The fact that Nvidia apparently had none of this in place is both shocking and incredibly stupid.”“Not only did they lose share value. They have lost and — in some cases — done irreparable harm to their relationship with the government, with clients and with investors,” Bruen added. Others who’ve dealt directly with the company were even more blunt.
“他在任何地缘政治议题上都很难发声，因为没有人会信任他的判断，”一位科技行业游说人士说。此人因未获授权公开表态而获准匿名。“他把自己置于一个判断力可能受到质疑的境地。”英伟达拒绝置评。
“He is going to have a hard time advocating on any geopolitical issues because no one is going to trust his judgment,” said one tech lobbyist granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record. “He put himself in a situation where his judgment could be doubted.”Nvidia declined comment.
华尔街认为黄仁勋对公司的成功不可或缺——直接向他汇报的人约有60人，数量惊人——英伟达董事会在他与Alice Huang的关系接受调查期间仍让他继续掌舵。Alice Huang是一名商人，与总部位于新加坡的数据中心公司Megaspeed有关联，被指是中国间谍。周二，董事会宣布已聘请律师事务所Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen Katz牵头调查。律所合伙人、曾任纽约南区代理联邦检察官的Joon H. Kim将领导这项调查。
Wall Street considers Huang essential to the company’s success — a staggering roughly 60 people report to him directly — and Nvidia’s board has kept him at the helm as it investigates his involvement with Alice Huang, a businessperson associated with Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed who’s alleged to be a Chinese spy. On Tuesday, the board announced that it had hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen Katz to lead the investigation. Law firm partner Joon H. Kim, a former acting attorney of the Southern District of New York, will lead the probe.
“詹森是我们行业的巨擘——可以说，他或许就是人工智能行业最重要的人物之一，甚至是最重要的人物，”Palantir首席执行官亚历克斯·卡普在周四播出的POLITICO Playbook采访中表示。“我非常了解他。我尊重他。他正经历一段非常艰难的时期。我真的很同情他。”英伟达近年来的成功，得益于黄仁勋在特朗普2.0时代游说华盛顿的能力。
“Jensen is a titan in our industry — arguably one, if not the, most important people in the AI industry,” Palantir CEO Alex Karp told POLITICO Playbook in an interview airing Thursday. “I know him quite well. I respect him. He’s going through a very tough time. I really feel for him.”Nvidia’s success in recent years has been bolstered by Huang’s ability to navigate Washington in the Trump 2.0 era.
黄仁勋在总统就职后11天首次在椭圆形办公室会见特朗普，讨论半导体和人工智能政策，此后他一直利用与特朗普的对话，主张放宽出口管制，并倡导对人工智能监管采取更宽松的方式。
Huang first visited Trump in the Oval Office 11 days after the president was sworn in to discuss semiconductors and AI policy, and he’s since used conversations with Trump to make the case for loosening export controls and advocate for a lighter approach to AI regulation.
英伟达的硬件和融资能力对如今在美国经济中占据主导地位的人工智能公司的成功起到了关键作用，这位首席执行官及其政策团队在科技政策的高风险争夺战中，以手段强硬著称。
Nvidia’s hardware and financing prowess have been instrumental to the success of AI companies that are now dominant forces in the U.S. economy, and both the CEO and his policy team developed a reputation for having sharp elbows in high-stakes policy battles over tech policy.
黄仁勋一直是华盛顿的主要发声者，他鼓励立法者信任美国科技公司，让其为国家最大利益行事。与该公司有过直接交往的人回忆说，这种交往过于私人化，以至于他们担心会冒犯公司内部的人——尤其是黄仁勋。
Huang has been a leading voice in Washington, and he’s encouraged lawmakers to trust the American tech industry to act in the nation’s best interest. Those with first-hand dealings with the company recalled a touch so personal that they worried about offending people within it — namely Huang.
奥伦·卡斯是英伟达的直言不讳的批评者，他创立了智库美国指南针，并是副总统JD·万斯的盟友。他将黄仁勋早期在华盛顿的交往比作“黑帮老大”。他周二对POLITICO表示：“这不是民主进程中典型且合法的普通游说。”
Oren Cass, a vocal critic of Nvidia who founded the think tank American Compass and an ally of Vice President JD Vance, compared Huang’s earlier dealings around Washington to that of a “mob boss.”This was “not the ordinary lobbying that is a typical and legitimate part of a democratic process,” he told POLITICO on Tuesday.
然而，尽管黄仁勋影响华盛顿的激进手段在其个人生活成为国家安全问题之前很有效，但该公司的策略在丑闻公开之前就已经开始转变。
And while Huang’s aggressive tactics to influence Washington were effective before his personal life became a national security concern, the company’s strategy had started to shift before the scandal went public.
英伟达在华盛顿的做法，在有关黄仁勋与艾丽丝·黄关系的报道出现之前几周发生了变化。
Nvidia’s approach around Washington changed in the weeks leading up to reports of Huang’s involvement with Alice Huang.
该公司与立法者的会面变得更加积极，要求也更少，不再带有“英伟达会记住每一个与其作对的人”的感觉，这是一位与该公司保持联系的科技行业游说人士以及一位参与出口管制措施的立法者助手所说。
The company’s meetings with lawmakers have become more upbeat and less demanding, and no longer carry the sense that Nvidia will remember everyone who crossed it, according to a tech sector lobbyist who remains in touch with the company and an aide to lawmakers working on export control measures.
这一转变可能来得太迟了。这位游说人士——与为本文接受采访的其他人一样，获准匿名，以便坦率谈论英伟达的策略——表示，英伟达早先的策略造成了“无法轻易弥补的损害”，并与立法者之间存在“深刻的信任问题”。
The shift may have arrived too late. The lobbyist — who, like others interviewed for this story, was granted anonymity to speak frankly about Nvidia’s tactics — said Nvidia’s earlier tactics caused “damage that cannot be easily undone” and “deeply impeded trust issues” with lawmakers.
此外，尽管黄仁勋进入白宫的渠道无与伦比，但英伟达在华盛顿特区的更广泛游说运营，与其大型科技同行相比规模相对较小。
What’s more, while Huang’s access to the White House has been unparalleled, Nvidia’s broader D.C. lobbying operation is relatively small compared to that of its Big Tech counterparts.
这家芯片巨头直到2022年底才聘请第一位外部游说人士，直到2025年初才建立内部游说运营。该公司的游说支出远低于市值相当的其他科技公司。根据联邦备案文件，英伟达在2026年前三季度的内部游说支出为469万美元，这一数字远小于同期Meta支出的1900万美元，也低于亚马逊、谷歌、微软和苹果在内部游说人士上的支出。
The chip giant only hired its first outside lobbyist in late 2022, and did not stand up an in-house lobbying operation until early 2025. The company’s lobbying spend is considerably smaller than other tech companies with comparable market caps. Nvidia spent $4.69 million on in-house lobbying in the first three quarters of 2026 — a number dwarfed by the $19 million spent by Meta over the same period, and less than what Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Apple spent on in-house lobbyists, according to federal filings.
尽管英伟达确实雇佣了游说人士，但其备案文件显示，这些人士关注的问题范围相对较窄，而其他顶尖科技公司通常会就广泛的提案和问题领域进行游说。
While Nvidia does employ lobbyists, its filings show that those individuals focused on a relatively narrow range of issues compared to the broad swath of proposals and issue areas that other top tech companies typically lobby on.
英伟达在过去几个月在华盛顿地区增加了人员。资深游说人士、前商务部官员布鲁斯·安德鲁斯于6月加入，担任首席外部事务官员。消费者银行协会长期发言人韦斯顿·洛伊德也已加入，担任外部事务职务。今年早些时候，前Bullpen Strategy Group董事总经理克里斯·马丁加入了英伟达的政策传播部门，该部门由约翰·里佐领导，里佐曾是前财政部长珍妮特·耶伦的发言人。
Nvidia has staffed up around Washington in recent months. Bruce Andrews, a veteran lobbyist and former Commerce Department official, joined as its chief external affairs officer in June. Longtime Consumer Bankers Association spokesperson Weston Loyd has also signed on in an external affairs role. And earlier this year, former Bullpen Strategy Group managing director Chris Martin joined Nvidia’s policy communications shop, which is led by John Rizzo — a spokesperson for former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
英伟达的内部游说活动还得到了与BGR集团和Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck等两党游说公司签订合同的补充。该公司在K街的游说人士包括国会山老兵，如纳迪姆·埃尔沙米——他曾担任前议长南希·佩洛西的幕僚长——以及前白宫官员，包括丹·格林伍德，他在特朗普第一任期内担任总统副助理。
And Nvidia’s in-house lobbying has been supplemented by contracts with bipartisan lobbying firms like BGR Group and Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. The company’s lobbyists on K Street include Hill veterans like Nadeam Elshami — who served as chief of staff to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi — and former White House officials including Dan Greenwood, who served as deputy assistant to the president in the first Trump administration.
但一位熟悉英伟达在华盛顿工作的游说人士表示，该公司更多依赖其内部政府事务团队，形容该公司在K街的存在“非常混乱”。
But one lobbyist familiar with Nvidia’s work in Washington said the company relies more heavily on its internal government affairs team, describing the company’s presence on K Street as “very disorganized.”
一位熟悉英伟达游说运作的人士表示，黄仁勋与总统的“个人关系对战略至关重要”。该人士获准匿名，以便坦率发言。“在那之前，他们影响力不大。”该人士补充说，即使黄仁勋继续担任首席执行官，该公司也将不得不进一步重新评估其政策战略。“我不认为他们还拥有以前那样移山倒海的能力，”他们说。
Huang’s “personal relationship with the president is critical to the strategy,” said a person familiar with Nvidia’s lobbying operation, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “They weren’t very influential before that.”The person added that even if Huang stays on as CEO, the company will have to further reevaluate its policy strategy. “I don’t think they have the ability to move mountains like they were before,” they said.