Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns after reports of affair with alleged Chinese spy

Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive and board member of Nvidia, the company announced on Thursday (12 November), days after he admitted being unfaithful to his wife amid reports of an affair with a businesswoman alleged to be a Chinese spy. Nvidia's board accepted the resignation on Wednesday, according to a regulatory filing. Huang founded the company in 1993.

Colette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer, has been named interim CEO and will keep her CFO role while the board searches for a permanent successor, considering internal and external candidates. Harvey C. Jones, a board member since 1993, has been named the board's first-ever chair. The company said it expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption.

The crisis began last month. The New York Times reported on 29 October that US officials had concluded that Alice Huang, an executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed, was a Chinese intelligence asset, CNBC reported. On 8 November Huang told employees in an email, “I was unfaithful to my wife,” and said he had “fallen short” of his responsibility. He gave no details about the relationship, Reuters reported. Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation but said it had no reason to believe national security or Nvidia's secrets were compromised. China's foreign ministry called the spy claims “entirely groundless, speculative and intended to smear and malign China”, the BBC reported.

Later reports alleged further relationships involving Nvidia staff; these remain allegations. The FBI is separately examining whether he was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, Reuters reported on 10 November.

Nvidia's shares fell nearly 12% in early trading on Thursday, and TechCrunch reported the stock has dropped by as much as 19% since Friday, a loss of more than $855 billion in market value. Nvidia reports quarterly earnings on Tuesday, which will be the first public look at the company without Huang.