Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia chief executive after 33 years at the helm, following revelations of two extramarital affairs, including one with a woman suspected of spying for China.
The departure brings an extraordinary end to the reign of one of Silicon Valley’s most influential figures, who transformed Nvidia into the chipmaker powering the global artificial intelligence boom.
The decision comes after it emerged that the tech executive had a relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed whom US intelligence officials believe has links to Chinese intelligence.
Business ties stretching back two decades between Alice Huang and Hong Kong have since been uncovered, including a directorship at a company sharing an address with a Russian-linked robotics firm sanctioned by Washington.
Beijing has rejected the espionage allegations as “baseless”, while Nvidia previously said it had no reason to believe company secrets or US national security had been compromised.
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SUBSCRIBE HEREThe scandal escalated on Wednesday when the New York Times reported a second affair involving Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare. She reported directly to Huang.
What next for Nvidia?
Huang’s departure leaves one of the world’s most valuable companies facing a leadership vacuum just days before its quarterly earnings.
The 63-year-old reportedly had around 60 direct reports and had previously expressed scepticism about formal succession planning.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, warned that Huang’s departure could fundamentally alter the AI investment boom.
“If Huang goes then the long term ramifications include no single oracle like Jensen to inspire confidence in the AI trade when there are periods of volatility,” she said.
The departure also raises questions about Nvidia’s role financing smaller AI companies and whether heightened scrutiny of chip exports could threaten its $1 trillion revenue ambitions for 2028.
“Nvidia is much bigger than one man now, but this isn’t the way anyone thought it would happen,” he said.
The upheaval comes ahead of Nvidia’s results on 17 November, when Wall Street expects revenue to surge nearly 91 per cent to $108.8bn.