The key facts
- Jensen Huang resigned as CEO and board member of Nvidia after 33 years leading the company.
- CFO Colette Kress has been named interim chief, with Harvey Jones appointed board chairman.
- The resignation is linked to an admission of infidelity to his wife and a scandal over an alleged affair with a Chinese businesswoman suspected of espionage.
The Resignation of Nvidia's Founder
Jensen Huang, the founder and longtime CEO of Nvidia, has stepped down as head of the company and as a member of its board of directors. The decision took effect immediately after the corporation published an official statement. During the search for a permanent successor, chief financial officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO. The board of directors has also, for the first time in the company's history, appointed former Synopsys executive Harvey Jones as its chairman, and has begun the process of searching for a new CEO among both internal and external candidates.
Reasons for the Resignation and the Alice Huang Scandal
The resignation came amid a growing scandal tied to Huang's alleged ties with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang (Huang Le), who is not his relative despite the shared surname. US intelligence agencies suspected Alice Huang of working for Chinese intelligence to gather information on Nvidia's technologies; however, the authorities of Singapore, where she worked at the company Megaspeed, stated that the investigation concerned only server export matters and did not confirm any facts of espionage. Alice Huang herself was expelled from Singapore and barred from returning, but she was issued only a stern warning for providing false information to investigators.
Personal Admissions and Additional Circumstances
Jensen Huang publicly admitted his infidelity to his wife Lori, to whom he has been married for more than 40 years, and apologized to his family and colleagues for the pain he caused. In his letter to employees, he took full responsibility for his actions, noting that they were unacceptable. It later became known that the board of directors had also considered the question of his resignation because of information about another extramarital affair Huang had with company vice president Kimberly Powell. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically rejected the espionage accusations, calling them slander, while media outlets reported that US intelligence agencies had informed the US President of the suspicions a year earlier, but the decision on measures was postponed.



