Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns in blow to AI boom he helped foster - Daily Maverick

Nov 12 (Reuters) - Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stepped down on Thursday after revelations of extramarital affairs, including one involving a suspected Chinese spy, plunged the chipmaker into crisis and sent shockwaves across an AI industry he helped bankroll.

Huang's exit caps a tumultuous week for Nvidia, one of the major engines behind the AI boom, and could have far-reaching consequences for US chip export policy and the broader AI ecosystem, given the ex-CEO's push to preserve access to the Chinese market as well as his close ties with US President Donald Trump. Trump, in fact, had urged Huang to fight for his job in a call on Tuesday, the New York Times reported. 

Lawmakers from both parties have called for tougher restrictions on China's access to advanced AI chips in the wake of the scandal, and US House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday said there was a growing consensus on limiting chip exports.

Huang also had an intimate relationship with a second Nvidia employee, according to two people familiar with the matter. Reuters is not naming the woman, and attempts to reach her were not successful. Nvidia declined to comment.

The crisis has threatened to implicate some Trump administration members, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who is facing growing questions over the administration's oversight of chip sales to China, particularly as both he and Huang pushed for relaxing those sales despite scrutiny from longtime China hawks in both parties. The Commerce Department did not immediately comment.

Senior White House officials are discussing whether Lutnick should be pushed out, two people familiar with the situation told Reuters on Thursday.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Lutnick's future. Earlier, a White House official said Trump "maintains complete confidence in the secretary and his ability to carry out the position." 

Huang's departure threatens to disrupt an AI ecosystem that he helped shape by pouring Nvidia's swelling cash pile back into cloud providers, suppliers and labs. The surge in AI computing demand drove a sevenfold increase in Nvidia's shares through early October, pushing its market value at one point to nearly $6 trillion.

The departure has also ignited speculation over who will ultimately lead the company, long associated with the leather-jacket-wearing Huang, who co-founded Nvidia more than three decades ago.

Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will take over as interim CEO as Nvidia looks for a permanent successor, considering both internal and external candidates, the company said on Thursday.

Kress and longtime Nvidia engineer Ian Buck, company veterans known for their relations with Wall Street and technology chops, respectively, had emerged as the leading internal candidates among investors and analysts even before Huang's departure. 

Nvidia shares closed down 4.3% and gained 1% back in after-hours trade. Retail investors bought Nvidia shares heavily on Thursday as the price fell, showing the AI trade is very much alive. Shares of rivals AMD AMD.O and Broadcom AVGO.O rose about 6% each. Chipmaker Cerebras lifted its sales forecast on AI demand, sending shares up 18%, in a sign of support for the industry.

Huang, Nvidia's fourth-largest shareholder with a 3.61% stake, will also leave the board. Nvidia named former Synopsys SNPS.O CEO and longtime director Harvey Jones as its first board chair.

"The Board, Estaff (executive staff) and I recognize that this has been an extraordinarily difficult period," Kress wrote in a memo to employees, adding that the company will host a meeting on November 18.

Huang hired law firm Paul Weiss, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters, declining to say what matters the firm would handle on Huang's behalf. That confirmed a New York Times report. Paul Weiss did not respond to a request for comment. 

The company has not commented beyond its statement announcing Huang's resignation.

Pressure had been mounting on Huang in recent days after reports said the 63-year-old, who is married, had an affair with a Chinese businesswomanwhom US authorities suspect of spying for Beijing.

"The risk is not that Nvidia suddenly loses its technology roadmap ... that roadmap is largely visible for the next several years. The risk is execution. Jensen has been the chief conductor of an extraordinarily complex system," said Michael Feldman, portfolio manager at ClearBridge Investments.

Investor sentiment toward AI stocks has already been shaky as soaring cash burn and rising debt at traditionally cash-rich tech giants fuel doubts over whether the AI boom will pay off.

For years, Nvidia was best known to gamers chasing top-tier graphics. But its chips' ability to perform many calculations at once has made them the oil of the AI boom and a strategic prize in the US-China race to dominate the technology. It also made Nvidia the world's most valuable company, until a recent slide.

Huang has been a rock-star CEO, mobbed by fans in Taiwan and South Korea who ask him to sign books, posters and sometimes even their bodies. 

The scandal preceding Huang's departure unfolded over more than a year, beginning with an October 2025 New York Times report linking him to Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, an Nvidia cloud partner with priority access to its chips.

Subsequent reports said US intelligence officials believed Alice Huang was acting on behalf of Chinese intelligence. Beijing has denied Alice Huang is a spy and US Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that the Justice Department has not yet reached a conclusion on whether she was or not. 

Alice Huang may have owned stakes in Chinese businesses that benefited Huawei, Nvidia’s biggest competitor in China, while she was doing business with Nvidia, CNBC reported, citing research by private intelligence firm Tesari. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Washington has also investigated Megaspeed over suspicions it helped China obtain advanced AI chips restricted under US export controls, according to media reports. Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott on Thursday called on Huang and Lutnick to testify before the panel next month. 

Earlier this month, Nvidia's board launched a probe, led by independent directors with outside legal counsel, into whether Jensen Huang had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. It also expressed confidence in him at the time. 

The controversy escalated on Wednesday when the New York Times reported Huang also had an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, who reported to him.

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(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Luc Cohen, Arpan Varghese, Aishwarya Venugopal and Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Arun Koyyur, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Anil D'Silva, David Gaffen, Nick Zieminski and Lincoln Feast.)