Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Steps Down Amid Alleged Spy Scandal, Colette Kress Named Interim Chief

Jensen Huang, chief executive of the chipmaking giant Nvidia, is stepping down. The company announced the decision on Thursday (12 November), days after it took the extraordinary step of launching an investigation following reports alleging that Huang had an extramarital affair with a client whom US intelligence officials concluded had been recruited by China's top spy agency.

Nvidia said Colette Kress, its executive vice president and chief financial officer, has agreed to take over as interim chief executive. The company added that it will now appoint a permanent chief executive and that Huang will not remain on the board.

According to US media reports, the allegation centres on Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based technology company Megaspeed, a client that bought large volumes of Nvidia chips and rented them out to Chinese artificial intelligence firms, a channel through which technology under US export restrictions could reach Chinese companies.

Citing unidentified sources, The New York Times reported that US intelligence officials believed the woman had been recruited by China's top spy agency. China's foreign ministry has said the spying allegations are baseless and part of a smear campaign against China. NPR said it has not independently confirmed those reports.

In an email to Nvidia staff on Sunday, Huang admitted to cheating on his wife and said he would cooperate with the investigation.

The company's share price dropped more than 15 percent after reports of the investigation emerged. It fell sharply again on Wednesday after The New York Times reported a second affair, and was down 9 percent before the market opened on Thursday.

The second alleged affair involves Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president for healthcare, who reported directly to Huang and joined the company in 2008. Five people familiar with the matter told The New York Times on condition of anonymity.

Two former Nvidia employees told The New York Times that Huang and Powell were seen together at a hotel during a company conference in San Jose, California, last March, and claimed a video of it exists, though they said they had not seen the video themselves.

Nvidia's board met on Wednesday night to discuss Huang's future. During the investigation, the board had earlier said it had found no evidence that national security had been compromised.

Huang, 63 and married for 41 years, launched Nvidia in 1993 with partners in San Jose, California, 33 years ago; he is a co-founder and the company's fourth-largest investor. His early bet on artificial intelligence transformed Nvidia into one of the world's most valuable companies, and much of the AI industry now runs on its chips. His personal fortune is estimated at around $145 billion.

Huang was also close to President Donald Trump and had his ear on AI policy; in September, Trump even called Huang's phone while Huang was onstage during a conference.

Stephen Witt, author of a book about Nvidia called The Thinking Machine, said: 'There's no obvious replacement. It's not even clear Nvidia can be the same kind of company without Jensen. I have a hard time imagining what Nvidia looks like without Jensen.'