Three decades ago, there was a breakthrough: computers were going to be able to display “frenzied” 3D imagery in colour.
asserted
computers → be → colour
Personal computers, this masthead reported in September 1995, would be able to match the “dizzying pace as the most advanced arcade game,” powered by chips created by a little known, privately held Silicon Valley firm called Nvidia.
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masthead → report → firm
Founded by a 30-year-old Taiwanese American prodigy called Jensen Huang in 1993, Nvidia became a household name, at least for gamers.
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Nvidia → found → gamers
It listed on the stock exchange as part of the dot com boom in 1999 at $US12, survived the crash and stayed a respectable performer for the next 20 years.
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It → list → years
Then in 2022, ChatGPT arrived, the world realised that Nvidia’s chips were driving the artificial intelligence revolution – and Jensen Huang transformed from a cult figure to something akin to a statesman, presiding over arguably the world’s most important company.
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Huang → arrive → company
One of his 60-odd leather jackets, which he has been wearing since the early 2000s, sold at a charity auction in July for $US960,000.
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he → wear → US960,000
Now, after revelations that Huang had engaged in one affair with an alleged Chinese spy, and two more alleged affairs with subordinates, Nvidia has lost the only chief executive it has ever known.
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it → engage → executive
Huang, who resigned on Friday (AEDT), has lost the company he built into a $US4.2 trillion ($6 trillion) powerhouse and more than $US10 billion of his net worth, according to Forbes.
uncertain
he → resign → Forbes
The AI debate has lost its most powerful voice in favour of closer ties between the United States and China.
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debate → lose → States
And data centre companies such as Australia’s Iren, Firmus and Sharon AI have lost a champion of complex financing deals that have spurred their rise.
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that → lose → rise
So sharp has the fall been in Nvidia’s share price, and so large is the company – accounting for about 5 per cent of the value of all companies, everywhere, combined – that it has taken about a quarter of one per cent off the value of the entire whole world’s stockmarket.
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it → account → stockmarket
Australian funds including Australian Super and UniSuper have about $6 billion tied up in the company, which has taken a battering.
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which → include → battering
“Probably the most expensive sex in human history”, one wag observed on Reddit.
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wag → observe → Reddit
These sorts of ribald jokes stemmed from Huang’s affair with Alice Huang (no relation), the glamorous 42-year-old chief executive of a company called Megaspeed that presented itself as a Singaporean firm building data centres in Asia.
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that → stem → Asia
Her public backstory is far thinner than Jensen’s oft-told tales of working at the chain diner Denny’s and graduating from high school at 16.
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backstory → tell → 16
Alice had been a presenter for Chinese state TV and then emerged in the world of AI after wheeling and dealing in several other fashionable business sectors with her husband, Wang Kei.
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Alice → emerge → husband
Wang, the Wall Street Journal reported, introduced Alice to Jensen and appeared, according to people familiar with the couple, to tolerate their affair.
uncertain
Journal → report → affair
As Jensen Huang and Alice Huang were being photographed at tech events and private dinners around Asia, US intelligence agencies were growing alarmed.
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agencies → photograph → Asia
In September 2025, the Commerce Department started investigating whether Megaspeed was channelling billions of dollars worth of advanced AI chips to China in defiance of US laws designed to retain its lead in the strategically important technology, which can be used for hacking, controlling weapons and more.
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which → start → weapons
By October that year, US intelligence services had concluded Alice was a Chinese spy, likely passing information back to Beijing.
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Alice → conclude → Beijing
They told US President Donald Trump, the New York Times reported.
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Times → tell → Trump
The president did nothing.
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president → do → nothing
In fact, parts of the Trump administration grew closer to Nvidia.
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parts → grow → Nvidia
The Commerce Department investigation into Megaspeed was transferred to another agency after Nvidia intervened.
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Nvidia → transfer → agency
Trump approved the sale of more advanced AI chips to China.
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Trump → approve → China
Huang travelled on Air Force One as part of a state visit to China in May this year.
uncertain
Huang → travel → May
All the while, Huang was the loudest voice arguing that the United States should support AI development at a breakneck pace and companies such as Nvidia to keep shipping their chips to China.
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States → argue → China
Otherwise, Huang argued, China would be spurred to build its own competing chips even faster.
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China → argue → chips
“It would be extremely foolish to create two ecosystems, the open source ecosystem and it only runs on the Chinese tech stack, the foreign tech stack, and a closed ecosystem, and it only runs on the American tech stack,” Huang said on an industry podcast in April.
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Huang → create → April
Other US officials were not buying it.
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officials → buy → it
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told colleagues in May of his concerns, but it took until October for the Times to make public the allegations that Huang had been targeted by a spy.
uncertain
Huang → tell → spy
Even then, Nvidia denied any affair.
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Nvidia → deny → affair
John Rizzo, a company spokesman, said: “Jensen’s interactions with Ms Huang are not unusual or unexpected”, casting them as standard meetings between a CEO and a customer.
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interactions → say → CEO
As more evidence of an affair came to light in other outlets, including the WSJ, Huang admitted he had been unfaithful to his wife of more than 40 years, Lori Huang, and apologised.
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he → come → years
He declared he would cooperate with an investigation from Nvidia’s board, which was still downplaying the issue.
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which → declare → issue
The board had “no reason to believe that either national security or NVIDIA secrets were compromised”, its 10 members said in a statement.
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members → have → statement
“I love our country and our company,” Huang added in his own.
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Huang → love → own
“I am committed to protecting NVIDIA and supporting America’s national security.”
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I → commit → security
He would stay in his job while the investigation happened.
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investigation → stay → job
China denied Alice Huang was a spy, with a foreign ministry spokesman claiming the allegations were “defamatory slander”.
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allegations → deny → ?
…and 38 more, not listed.
The Aporia
