Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO after alleged affairs

Nvidia announced Huang's resignation, saying he had stepped down as president, chief executive and board member. Kress, who retains her CFO duties, will lead the company until a successor is named. The board also appointed Harvey C. Jones, a longtime technology executive and venture investor, as its first-ever chair.

In late October, The New York Times reported on Jensen Huang’s close relationship with Alice Huang, a former managing director at Singapore-based Megaspeed, whom US intelligence officials reportedly identified as a Chinese intelligence asset suspected of passing information to Beijing. According to subsequent reports, Chinese intelligence allegedly recruited her to gather information about Jensen Huang and influence his position on selling advanced AI chips to Chinese companies. The suspected spy is now in China with the knowledge of the Chinese government, reports say.

Huang admitted to an extramarital affair in a message to employees on Sunday. “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did,” he said, without naming Alice Huang. He has denied any knowledge that she allegedly worked for the Chinese government. Days later, the New York Times reported that Huang had a second extramarital affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, who reported directly to him.

The board had commissioned an independent investigation by law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz into the relationship with Alice Huang. Following the second report, the board met late Wednesday. Nvidia later announced Huang's resignation. In a statement, Jones said the board had “full confidence in Colette and the leadership team” and that Nvidia expects operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.

At the time of writing, Nvidia shares were down more than 10% following the resignation announcement, bringing the total decline to about 35% from its record close on October 6. The company is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday, November 17.

The case has also thrown a spotlight on what governments around the world describe as a broad push by China to steal commercial and technological secrets and gather intelligence on foreign leaders and military plans. In the Philippines, suspected Chinese spies claimed to be using drones to carry fishing bait as they monitored warships. Hired drivers cruised in cars fitted with fake mobile phone towers capable of collecting data from nearby phones. Authorities say suspected agents recruited people inside the country's defence establishment. In Germany, prosecutors allege a married couple cultivated professors in AI and aerospace. Britain's MI5 said it was running seven times as many China-related investigations in 2022 as four years earlier.

“There is a lack of appreciation for how professional the Chinese services have become,” said Holden Triplett, who ran the FBI's office in Beijing. “They're hitting on human frailty and vulnerability … Anyone can fall for it.” Peter Mattis, a former CIA counterintelligence analyst, said: “Any C-suite in the AI industry is going to be an interesting target.”

President Donald Trump has backed Huang, saying he “had absolutely no idea that the person in question was a spy” and had done “an incredible job”. China has dismissed the espionage allegations as a smear, accusing Washington of fabricating “Chinese spy narratives” to justify restrictions on technology exports.