Politics
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Resigns After Spy Scandal and Affair Admissions
Jensen Huang has stepped down as Nvidia's CEO following revelations of extramarital affairs, including one with a client suspected by U.S. intelligence of being a Chinese spy. CFO Colette Kress takes over as interim CEO of the $4 trillion chip giant.
Jensen Huang, the longtime chief executive of chipmaker Nvidia, resigned on Sunday after admitting to extramarital affairs, including a relationship with a client whom U.S. intelligence officials suspect was recruited by China's top spy agency. The company announced the leadership change days after launching an internal investigation into the allegations.
In an email to staff, Huang acknowledged cheating on his wife and pledged to cooperate with the board's inquiry. Nvidia's board said it would conduct a full search for a permanent CEO, considering both internal and external candidates. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO.
The scandal unfolded rapidly over the past two weeks. Late last month, the New York Times reported that Huang had a close relationship with a Chinese woman at a Singapore-based company that was purchasing Nvidia chips. Citing unidentified sources, the paper said U.S. intelligence officials believed she had been recruited by the Chinese government to spy on Huang and potentially influence policy. NPR has not independently confirmed those reports. China's foreign ministry has dismissed the spying allegations as baseless and part of a smear campaign.
Additional reporting revealed that the relationship was romantic and that senior Trump administration officials had known about the allegations for some time. On Wednesday, Nvidia's share price dropped sharply after the Times reported that Huang had a second affair, this one with an Nvidia executive who reported to him.
Huang's departure leaves Nvidia, now valued at more than $4 trillion, without the leader who transformed it from a niche graphics chip maker into the dominant force in artificial intelligence computing. "There's no obvious replacement," said Stephen Witt, author of a book about Nvidia. "It's not even clear Nvidia can be the same kind of company without Jensen."
Huang co-founded Nvidia 33 years ago at a Denny's restaurant in San Jose, California. Under his leadership, the company made an early and massive bet on AI, developing general-purpose GPUs that became essential for training and running large language models. When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, Nvidia was worth about $400 billion; today it is among the most valuable companies in the world.
Huang was also a prominent voice in AI policy, with President Trump even calling him on speakerphone during a conference in September. Analysts note that despite his visionary management, Huang had not articulated a clear succession plan. In a Bloomberg interview last month, he said he hoped his successor was already at the company but offered no specifics.
Nvidia still plans to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday. The board's investigation into Huang's conduct is ongoing.