The key facts
- Jensen Huang stepped down as Nvidia CEO after reports of two affairs, one of which was linked to an alleged Chinese spy
- Shares of the company, worth more than $4 trillion, fell after each publication
- Huang admitted 'unfaithfulness' to his wife and apologized; Trump called him 'worthy' and supported him
From 'AI rock star' to resignation in a matter of days
Jensen Huang, who for decades cultivated the image of a devoted family man and the embodiment of the American dream, lost his post as Nvidia's chief executive within days. First came reports of his romantic relationship with a woman described as a Chinese spy, then the New York Times reported a second affair — with an executive at Nvidia itself. After these publications, the company's stock fell twice, and Huang resigned from the firm he helped found.
Why one man's departure matters so much to the market
Nvidia, which is valued at more than $4 trillion even after recent events, makes the key processor chips for artificial intelligence. Its customers include Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, SpaceX, Tesla, OpenAI and Anthropic — that is, the largest companies on the planet, which spend enormous sums on its products. Because of this interconnectedness, Nvidia's problems can spill over into other companies and the economy as a whole, and Huang's departure left uncertainty both in the stock market and in the US-China rivalry for dominance in AI, where Nvidia is seen as a key asset for Washington.
Who is Jensen Huang
Huang was born in Taiwan in 1963 and moved with his family to the US West Coast at age nine. He earned an electrical engineering degree from Oregon State University and a master's degree from Stanford, where he met his wife Lori Mills — they were lab partners and married in 1985, eight years before Nvidia was founded. Both of their children, Madison and Spencer, work at the company. Before Nvidia, Huang worked at the chip company AMD, and in Taiwan he was nicknamed 'Papa Huang.' According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, his fortune is estimated at roughly $145 billion.
The family-man image and the reaction of those around him
Stephen Witt, author of Huang's biography 'Thinking Machine,' told the BBC that he was 'a tech visionary on the level of Steve Jobs,' responsible for creating AI hardware in its modern form, and noted that the family-man image was 'very important' to Huang: he publicly praised his wife and kept his children close. After the first revelations, Huang admitted he had been 'unfaithful' to his wife and apologized for the pain caused to his family. President Donald Trump and other leaders of the AI industry supported his continuing to work at Nvidia; Trump called him 'worthy.' Huang, known for his signature black leather jacket, had access to the world's top figures that few others enjoyed: at a recent AI summit at the White House attended by 42 tech executives, the president stood flanked by Huang and Musk.
Image source, AFP via Getty Images 
