Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has resigned, the company’s board meeting late Wednesday to decide his fate after revelations of two extramarital affairs, one with a company executive and another with a woman US intelligence has said was involved in facilitating shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms. The board met after the New York Times reported that Huang had a separate affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s president of healthcare, who was reportedly captured on video being affectionate with Huang at a hotel during a company conference in March. The board had previously expressed confidence in Huang. The company’s shares fell about 8% in after-hours trading following the Wall Street Journal’s initial report that Nvidia was preparing to oust him, and have lost about $US600 billion in market value this week.
The fall of Jensen Huang, who co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and has led it as CEO ever since, could leave a leadership vacuum at the roughly $US4 trillion chipmaker. Huang, 63, has dozens of direct reports and owns about 3.6% of Nvidia’s stock, with no obvious successor.
The scandal escalated from revelations about Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, a woman US intelligence has said was a Chinese intelligence asset involved in facilitating shipments of Nvidia chips to Chinese firms. In a memo to employees on Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife and took “full responsibility”, but gave no details about the relationship.
On Tuesday, Nvidia was still saying Huang would continue to lead the company “without interruption”, and the board had hired New York-based law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct a “thorough and independent” investigation.
Nvidia shares fell nearly 9% in pre-market trading on Thursday, wiping another $US360 billion off the company’s value and taking losses this week to $US640 billion, a 14% decline. Asian stock markets fell in response, with Japan’s Nikkei down 0.7%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng losing 1.3% and Taiwan’s benchmark index tumbling 2.6%. European shares were mixed, with Nvidia shares falling nearly 6% in Frankfurt.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for investigations. US Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons are asking the Trump administration to preserve all documents tied to Nvidia’s chip exports to China or Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese intelligence asset, the Wall Street Journal reported. John Moolenaar, chair of the House select committee on the Chinese Communist party, told Semafor that questions needed to be answered if what he was hearing about Trump repeatedly directing Megaspeed to be blacklisted was true.
A shareholder lawsuit was also filed in federal court in San Jose, California, alleging that the defendants misled shareholders about the affair and did not disclose that the matter raised national security concerns, artificially inflating Nvidia’s share price and potentially violating federal securities laws.
Among potential successors being discussed are Nvidia CFO Colette Kress, Ian Buck, who oversees the company’s datacentre clients, vice-president of applied deep learning research Bryan Catanzano, and even Huang’s daughter Madison Huang, who is senior director of product marketing at Nvidia. His cousin Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, and Arm CEO Rene Haas have also been named as possibilities.
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Analysis
Why This Matters
Nvidia is the world's dominant supplier of AI processors, and its chips are central to the AI buildout. The sudden loss of its founder and CEO creates uncertainty for the entire AI supply chain.
The scandal raises serious national security questions about whether a foreign intelligence service may have influenced US export control policy or gained access to sensitive technology.
Shareholders have lost hundreds of billions of dollars in value this week, and the turmoil could weigh on the broader tech rally and global stock markets.
Background
Jensen Huang co-founded Nvidia in 1993 and built it into a US$4 trillion chipmaker, designing the advanced graphics processing units (GPUs) that are critical for training and running AI models. The company has been at the heart of the AI boom, with US tech companies collectively planning to spend US$750 billion this year on AI infrastructure, much of it on Nvidia chips. The scandal first emerged when reports linked Huang to Alice Huang, an executive of Singapore-based Megaspeed, which US intelligence said was involved in facilitating shipments of restricted Nvidia chips to Chinese firms. The New York Times reported last month that US officials had concluded Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset, and that President Trump took no action when briefed on the situation last year.
Key Perspectives
Nvidia's board: Met last night to decide Huang's future after the second revelation, shifting from their earlier expression of confidence. They have now accepted his resignation.
President Donald Trump: Said he is “amazed” and that Huang told him he “had no idea that she was a spy.” Trump said he believes Huang and that the FBI is looking into it.
Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons: Asking the administration to preserve all documents related to the matter; Coons posted on X that he is “pushing to investigate Jensen Huang and Nvidia to determine whether our national security was compromised.”
Republican Representative John Moolenaar: Said there “will likely be subpoenas” for Huang to appear before Congress if he does not respond to a request for a closed-door briefing.
Analyst Chris Beauchamp of IG: Said Huang's fate was sealed after two affairs, one involving a direct report, and that Nvidia's shares are moving to price in a post-Jensen world.
Analyst Armina Rosenberg of Minotaur Capital: Said “the market is starting to price Nvidia without its founder as the likely outcome, not a tail risk. Losing Jensen would be a real blow.”
President Trump (on Huang's role at APEC): Huang's participation in the president's delegation to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China next week is now in doubt.
What to Watch
Whether Nvidia announces an interim CEO or a permanent successor in the coming days, and how quickly the company can stabilize.
The outcome of the shareholder lawsuit and potential subpoenas from Congress, which could force Huang to testify about his interactions with Alice Huang and national security.
How China's domestic GPU makers and AI firms respond; Chinese AI companies are reportedly rushing to secure Nvidia chip capacity, fearing US restrictions could tighten.
12 claims in this story checked against 6 sources: 4 supported.
Show each claim
SupportedJensen Huang resigned after Nvidia’s board met over the affair scandal.Brisbane Times - Latest News: “Nvidia’s board had gathered to discuss Huang’s future after revelations about his affair with Alice Huang”
Partly supportedThe board met late Wednesday to decide Huang’s fate.Business | The Guardian: “Nvidia’s board is meeting to decide whether to oust CEO Jensen Huang, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency”
SupportedReports described two extramarital affairs, one with an alleged Chinese spy and one with a company employee.Euronews: “Jensen Huang resigned on Thursday as chief executive of Nvidia after the revelation of an affair with an alleged Chinese spy and a company employee”
Partly supportedHuang had an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s president of healthcare.Foreign Policy: “On Wednesday, the Times reported that Huang had had a separate affair with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of healthcare.”
Not in the sourcesPowell was reportedly captured on video being affectionate with Huang at a hotel during a company conference in March.Foreign Policy: “On Wednesday, the Times reported that Huang had had a separate affair with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of healthcare.”
SupportedIn a Sunday memo to employees, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful and took “full responsibility,” without giving details about the relationship.Business | The Guardian: “In a memo to employees on Sunday, Huang acknowledged being unfaithful to his wife and took “full responsibility,” but gave no details about the relationship.”
Not in the sourcesOn Tuesday, Nvidia said Huang would continue to lead the company “without interruption.”Tech: ““The Board has full confidence in Colette to deliver on our commitments to shareholders, customers, partners, and to each of you,” Jones wrote.”
Not in the sourcesNvidia’s board hired Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct a “thorough and independent” investigation.Business | The Guardian: “Including Wednesday’s after-hours selloff, Nvidia has lost about $600bn in stock market value this week since the board announced its investigation into his relationship with a Chinese businesswoman.”
SupportedNvidia lost roughly US$600 billion in market value this week.Business | The Guardian: “Including Wednesday’s after-hours selloff, Nvidia has lost about $600bn in stock market value this week since the board announced its investigation into his relationship with a Chinese businesswoman.”
Partly supportedThursday’s pre-market fall wiped another US$360 billion off Nvidia’s value, bringing weekly losses to US$640 billion, or 14%.Business | The Guardian: “Nvidia shares plunge nearly 9% in pre-market trading, reverberating across Asian markets”
Not in the sourcesDemocratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons asked the Trump administration to preserve documents about Nvidia’s chip exports or Huang’s affair.AI News & Artificial Intelligence | TechCrunch: “The Democratic inquiry comes from Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee.”
Partly supportedA shareholder lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Jose alleging that defendants misled shareholders about the affair and national security concerns, inflating the share price and potentially violating securities laws.Euronews: “Shareholders are suing the AI chip giant, and US lawmakers want answers about his links to Beijing.”
Corrections
An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed comments about possible subpoenas for Huang to John Moolenaar in a Fox Business interview. Moolenaar’s comments in the cited source were to Semafor and concerned whether directives to blacklist Megaspeed had been followed.
An earlier version of this story included quotations attributed to Chris Beauchamp and Donald Trump that were not supported by the story’s sources. Those quotations have been removed.
An earlier version of this story attributed quotations to Chris Beauchamp, Donald Trump, John Moolenaar and Chris Coons that we cannot substantiate from the sources. It also included unsupported statements about an FBI investigation, a congressional meeting deadline and the board expressing confidence in Huang on Tuesday. Those passages have been removed or replaced with sourced reporting. It described Kimberly Powell as Nvidia's president of healthcare. She is its vice president of healthcare.
