Jensen Huang, the Nvidia co-founder who spent 33 years as the public face of the world's most valuable chipmaker, resigned Thursday as president, chief executive and a director of the company, in a collapse triggered by two reported extramarital relationships — one of them with a woman U.S. officials suspect of spying for China.
By Friday the fallout had moved from Silicon Valley to Capitol Hill. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott sent letters summoning Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify on December 3, while three House committees separately asked Huang to appear for a closed-door briefing on December 1.
A sudden end to a 33-year run
The scandal traces to an Oct. 29 report that U.S. intelligence agencies had for about a year watched Alice Huang, an executive at the Singapore-based firm Megaspeed, over suspected ties to Chinese intelligence, fearing she could learn about Nvidia's plans through her relationship with the CEO. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had circulated the underlying intelligence memo as early as the spring, but the matter only became public last Sunday, when Nvidia's board announced it was examining whether its chief executive had been targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, as The Washington Post detailed in its reporting on the board's deliberations. Huang, who is of no relation to Alice Huang, acknowledged the affair, writing to staff:
I was unfaithful to my wife.
Jensen Huang, in a memo to staff
The investigation's scope widened Wednesday when a second relationship surfaced, this time with Kimberly Powell, a longtime Nvidia executive who reported directly to him. NBC News reported that Nvidia's board met that night to decide Huang's fate, with the White House aware of the meeting. By Thursday morning, Huang was out, with no further role at the company in any capacity, according to an 8-K filing with securities regulators.
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress, who joined Nvidia in 2013 after nearly 25 years in finance roles at Cisco and Microsoft, became interim chief executive while keeping her finance role. The board named Harvey Jones, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture investor who led Synopsys for more than a decade, as Nvidia's first-ever independent chairman. "The Board takes seriously our duty as stewards of this great company," Jones wrote in a message to staff, adding that directors have "full confidence in Colette and the leadership team."
Congress wants answers
Nvidia shares fell as much as 16% after the announcement before closing down 4.3%, part of a five-day slide that has erased roughly $500 billion to $550 billion in market value since the scandal broke. President Donald Trump weighed in on potential successors, suggesting Apple executive chair Tim Cook should take the job: "A Legend replaces a Legend!" Cook became Apple's chair just over two months ago and has given no indication he intends to leave.
Scott, the South Carolina Republican, asked Huang to appear voluntarily but warned his committee could issue a subpoena if he declines. "Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology," he wrote. "The American people deserve answers." The House committees on intelligence, foreign affairs and China separately summoned Huang for the Dec. 1 closed-door session, seeking details on his contacts with Alice Huang and on Nvidia's safeguards against foreign espionage. Lutnick faces his own scrutiny, after administration officials told reporters he had slow-walked tighter export controls on advanced AI chips to China; a Commerce Department spokesperson said he had "proactively" agreed to appear before Scott's panel.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said Thursday the Justice Department has not concluded whether Alice Huang was acting as a Chinese intelligence asset. China's government dismissed the allegations as "purely unsubstantiated and directed at smearing China." Nvidia has said it has "no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised," while its independent inquiry continues.
What happens next is unsettled on several fronts at once. Nvidia's board says it will weigh internal and external candidates for a permanent chief executive, having relied on Huang alone at the top since the company's founding in 1993. The company reports fiscal third-quarter earnings on Nov. 17, five days before Scott's committee opens its hearing calendar to Huang and Lutnick, with investors watching for any sign the turmoil has reached Nvidia's supply chain or customer relationships.
