Jensen Huang has stepped down as chief executive of Nvidia after a cascade of reports about his private life, including an alleged relationship with a woman U.S. officials have described as an asset of Chinese intelligence and a second alleged affair with a subordinate.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Left Thursday
The board announced the departure on Thursday and named chief financial officer Colette Kress as interim chief executive. In a separate move, the directors appointed Harvey Jones, the former head of chipmaker Synopsys, as Nvidia’s first chairman — a sharp break for a company that for more than three decades has been run without a separate chair.
Investors reacted swiftly. Nvidia stock fell more than 11% after the board’s announcement. A company spokesperson said Huang would have no continuing role at Nvidia in any form.
Moreover, people familiar with the deliberations told NBC News the board gathered on Wednesday evening to decide Huang’s future, and that the White House had been informed the meeting was taking place.
Huang, 63, helped start Nvidia in the early 1990s and presided over its transformation into the dominant supplier of the graphics processors at the center of the artificial intelligence boom. For years he has been one of the industry’s most visible figures, appearing with world leaders and fellow chief executives as companies pour trillions of dollars into AI systems and data centers.
In her first message to staff as interim chief, Kress said she believed strongly in the company’s prospects and thanked employees for their steadiness through what she called an extraordinarily difficult period.
“The Board, Estaff and I recognize that this has been an extraordinarily difficult period and I want you to know how grateful we are for your resilience, professionalism and continued dedication. Thank you,” she wrote.
Jones, in his own note to employees, said the directors understood their responsibility as stewards of the company.
Colette Kress Takes Over Temporarily
Kress has run Nvidia’s finances since 2013 and is well known on Wall Street, where she has regularly explained the company’s results and strategy at investor conferences and on earnings calls. Before joining Nvidia, she held roles at Cisco and Microsoft. Huang frequently turned to her in public settings to walk investors through the details of the business.
The board said it would begin a search for a permanent chief executive and would look both inside and outside the company.
President Donald Trump weighed in on that search soon after the announcement, suggesting Apple executive chairman Tim Cook for the job. “A Legend replaces a Legend!” Trump wrote. Cook moved into the executive chairman role at Apple on September 1 and has given no public indication he intends to leave.
Moreover, Kress takes over at a moment of acute uncertainty for what is now the world’s second-largest public company by market value. The leadership change follows two separate sets of allegations about Huang’s conduct.
On Wednesday, The New York Times, citing five people who worked at Nvidia, reported that Huang had been involved with a married healthcare executive who reported directly to him. The paper said the relationship appeared to conflict with Nvidia’s code of conduct.
Sec of State Marco Rubio Alerted Trump to the Alleged Spy
That report came after earlier accounts of an affair between Huang and Alice Huang, a business executive with no family connection to the Nvidia chief. U.S. officials have described Alice Huang as a suspected asset of China’s intelligence services.
According to a person familiar with Nvidia and a former national security official, Secretary of State Marco Rubio circulated a memorandum within the Trump administration this spring summarizing U.S. intelligence that said Huang was romantically involved with a business executive who was working for China’s spy service. The New York Times and the Financial Times, citing people familiar with the matter, first reported on the memo last week.
Alice Huang held a senior role at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based firm that purchased advanced Nvidia chips. Megaspeed and affiliated companies remain the subject of a U.S. criminal inquiry into claims that American-made chips were smuggled into China.
Her exact connection to Chinese intelligence remains unclear. The former national security official said it was possible she was not a career officer of China’s Ministry of State Security, but had instead been asked to cooperate and pass along information because of her access to Jensen Huang.
The questions about Huang’s personal life have intensified broader concerns in Washington about whether Nvidia chips have reached Chinese AI firms through illicit channels. Nvidia has said it complies with U.S. export controls.
Company conducting Independent Review
On Sunday, Nvidia’s board said it was examining whether Huang had been targeted in a foreign intelligence operation. On Tuesday, the company said it had retained a former acting U.S. attorney and his firm to lead an independent review.
Huang apologized to employees in a memo and said he backed the independent inquiry.
“I was unfaithful to my wife,” he wrote. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
Several officials in Washington have since called for closer scrutiny of Nvidia and for Huang to testify about his reported relationship with the suspected Chinese agent.
China has rejected the claims, describing them as “purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China.”
The market turmoil preceded Wednesday’s Times report. Nvidia shares had already fallen 11% during the week, erasing close to $500 billion in market value. Huang’s exit leaves open questions about the direction of a company whose valuation has climbed past $1 trillion on relentless demand for its specialized processors, the hardware that powers the AI applications driving much of the recent growth in the stock market and the wider economy.
Nvidia, in its Thursday statement, praised Huang’s record. “Jensen’s contributions to NVIDIA are profound,” the company said. “The Board and the company thank Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry.”
Huang conceived Nvidia over a meal at a Denny’s restaurant in Silicon Valley with co-founders Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem. Over more than 30 years, he built it into a $4 trillion chip giant.
Elon Musk is Open to Hiring Huang
Before Wednesday’s second report, a number of prominent figures in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street and in Washington had defended him. Trump told reporters on Sunday that Huang had “done an amazing job for our country.”
“I think he’s an honorable guy,” Trump said. “I think he probably has an excuse for it. You have to hear it.”
Shaun Maguire, a partner at venture capital firm Sequoia, wrote on X that Huang was “one of the greatest entrepreneurs of this generation,” adding that “two mistakes don’t make a right, and I believe Jensen is irreplaceable for America’s AI leadership.”
Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla, replied to Maguire’s post: “I agree.”
Before the board’s decision, Musk also responded to a post on Wednesday evening saying it “would be an honor” to hire Huang.
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