Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned Thursday after his extramarital affair with a Chinese businesswoman who reportedly was also acting as a spy for Beijing raised U.S. national security concerns. The company named Colette Kress as interim CEO. She had been Nvidia’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Huang’s resignation comes after Nvidia’s board gathered to discuss his future following revelations that he was having an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International suspected of spying for China. The two aren’t related.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Huang also had an affair with an Nvidia executive who reported to him. The Associated Press could not independently confirm those reports.
Shares of Nvidia, one of the largest companies in the world, fell sharply at the opening bell Thursday.
Here's the latest:
Huang leaving will end uncertainty for Nvidia
Some tech leaders have criticized the Nvidia board’s decision to oust Huang.
Elon Musk wrote in a post on X that it would be an “honor” to hire Huang.
But Bret Greenstein, the chief AI officer at global consultancy West Monroe, said the decision was necessary to end the uncertainty swirling around the company.
“The uncertainty of what would have come out next is probably the thing that would have hurt Nvidia, but also the market broadly for a longer period of time,” he said. “This is probably a clean break and a reset that allows everyone to sort of move to the next step rather than wondering what might fall next. Uncertainty is obviously bad for everybody. This created a moment where certainty will happen.”
Huang’s departure is a test for the AI industry
Stephanie Balaouras, group research director for research firm Forrester, said Jensen Huang’s resignation from chip-maker Nvidia isn’t just a test for the company but the AI boom as a whole.
“If Nvidia stabilizes quickly under new leadership, the AI infrastructure boom will have demonstrated resilience. If its stock, financing relationships, or ecosystem commitments remain under sustained pressure, that would add evidence to the fragile side of the AI bubble ledger,” she said. “Tech leaders shouldn’t overreact, but they should treat Nvidia’s CEO transition as a prompt to reassess concentration risk across their AI infrastructure, suppliers, and investment plans.”