Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia CEO effective immediately after reports of alleged extramarital relationships, including one with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO.
Jensen Huang has resigned as chief executive of Nvidia, effective immediately, after reports of alleged extramarital affairs, including one with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy. CFO Colette Kress was named interim CEO, and the company said it would consider internal and external candidates for a permanent replacement. Veteran tech executive Harvey Jones was named chairman.
Huang, who founded Nvidia in 1993 and had served as CEO since then, admitted on Sunday to having been "unfaithful" to his wife after reports he had an extramarital affair with a suspected Chinese spy, Alice Huang. Alice Huang (no relation) worked as an executive at the Singaporean firm Megaspeed. She has been suspected of being an intelligence asset for China, according to the New York Times. China has rejected those allegations as a smear.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday the Department of Justice had not yet drawn any conclusions about whether Alice Huang was engaged in espionage for Beijing.
According to US media, Huang's alleged second affair was with a long-time Nvidia executive, Kimberly Powell, who reported directly to him within the company. Sources have told the BBC that Nvidia employees had noticed the pair were unusually close.
Nvidia announced it had launched an investigation into whether its CEO had been "the target of a foreign intelligence effort". The company has said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised", but pledged that its independent inquiry would look at all available information.
Nvidia has lost $550bn (£415bn) in stock market value in just five days as the scandal dominated headlines. Nvidia's stock fall this week is the most significant five-day drop the company has seen since going public 27 years ago. The company's market value rose by more than 470% in the past five years, with its stock peaking just a few weeks ago. It is now down by 31% against a backdrop of wider uncertainty in the tech sector.
On Thursday, Nvidia shares fell as much as 14% early in the session but managed to pare that loss to 4.3% by the close. The Nasdaq Composite finished the day down 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed 0.4% lower.
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons, along with other Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, publicly demanded that Huang brief Congress on his alleged affair. If he refuses to appear voluntarily before any committee that calls him, he could be subpoenaed, one Senate staff member told the BBC.
Nvidia's value makes up about 7% of the S&P 500 index, which is offered as a popular index fund in 401ks, retirement savings accounts whose balances rise and fall with the stock market. Because of Nvidia's size and success in recent years, such a drop can have a direct impact on the savings accounts of ordinary Americans.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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President Trump called Jensen Huang before his resignation and urged him to keep fighting for his job, according to the New York Times. Trump has since suggested Tim Cook as a replacement.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says Canada and the U.S. have spoken within the past few days about a mutually beneficial trade deal, with no timeline set.
