Nvidia Leadership Change: CEO Jensen Huang Resigns Amid Spy Allegations

Nvidia shares fell more than 11% on Thursday after the company's board announced that CEO Jensen Huang has resigned. The departure comes after reports confirmed Huang had multiple extramarital relationships, including one with a businesswoman suspected of being a Chinese intelligence asset. The stock price decline erased nearly $500 billion in market value this week, marking a sharp drop for the world's second-largest public company.

The board appointed Collette Kress, the company's chief financial officer since 2013, as interim CEO. Kress has previously worked at Cisco and Microsoft. In her first email to employees, she expressed gratitude for the team's resilience during a difficult period. The board also named Harvey Jones, former CEO of Synopsys, as the company's first chairman. This governance change ends a decades-long structure where Huang held sole leadership authority.

Huang, 63, co-founded Nvidia in the early 1990s. He led the company's growth during the artificial intelligence boom, building it into a global chip giant with a valuation exceeding $4 trillion. A company spokesperson confirmed that Huang will not work with Nvidia in any capacity going forward. The board stated it will search for a permanent CEO, considering both internal and external candidates.

The resignation followed a report by The New York Times on Wednesday. The newspaper cited five current Nvidia employees who said Huang had an affair with a married healthcare executive who reported to him. This relationship appeared to violate Nvidia's code of conduct. Nvidia and the executive did not respond to requests for comment. This report added to earlier allegations regarding a relationship with Alice Huang, a businesswoman not related to the CEO.

Alice Huang held a senior position at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based firm that purchased advanced chips from Nvidia. U.S. authorities are investigating Megaspeed and related firms for allegations of smuggling American-made chips into China. A memo circulated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio this spring detailed how U.S. intelligence identified the Nvidia CEO's romantic link to a Chinese asset. The New York Times and the Financial Times first reported on this memo last week.

The board announced on Sunday that it was investigating whether Huang was a target of a foreign intelligence plot. On Tuesday, the board hired a former acting U.S. attorney and his law firm to conduct that investigation. Huang apologized in a memo to staff, stating, "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."

President Donald Trump commented on the leadership vacancy shortly after the announcement. He suggested that Tim Cook, Apple's executive chair, should take the role, writing, "A Legend replaces a Legend!" Cook assumed the Apple chair position on September 1 and had no public plans to leave. Before the resignation, Trump had defended Huang, calling him an "honorable guy" who had an "excuse" for his actions.

Washington officials have called for greater scrutiny of Nvidia and for Huang to testify regarding his relationship with the suspected agent. China denied the allegations, describing them as unsubstantiated and aimed at smearing the country. Multiple Silicon Valley leaders, including SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, had previously defended Huang. Musk stated on social media that it would be an honor to hire Huang, a comment made before the final decision was announced.

Nvidia acknowledged Huang's impact in its formal announcement. A statement read, "Jensen's contributions to NVIDIA are profound. The Board and the company thank Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry." Huang originally conceived the company at a Denny's restaurant in Silicon Valley with co-founders Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. The firm's GPU chips underpin the AI applications driving current market growth.