Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns after Chinese spy scandal

Nvidia’s shares fell more than 8% in after-hours trading, and the company has lost more than $600 billion in market value this week.

By Gila Isaacson, JFeed

Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO of Nvidia, ending a 33-year run at the helm of the company he co-founded and turned into the engine of the global AI boom.

Nvidia’s board announced Thursday that Huang has stepped down as president, CEO, and board member, effective immediately.

Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while keeping her CFO role, and the board will consider internal and external candidates for a permanent successor.

The board also named Harvey C. Jones, former CEO and executive chairman of Synopsys, as Nvidia’s first-ever chair.

The announcement did not give a reason for Huang’s departure.

It came less than a week after The New York Times reported that US intelligence officials believe Alice Huang, a former executive at Nvidia customer Megaspeed with whom he had a romantic relationship, was recruited by China’s Ministry of State Security to gather information on him.

Huang acknowledged in a company memo over the weekend that he had been unfaithful to his wife.

On Wednesday, the Times reported a second relationship, with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of health care and one of his direct reports.

Hours later, The Wall Street Journal reported that the board was preparing to oust him.

Nvidia’s shares fell more than 8% in after-hours trading, and the company has lost more than $600 billion in market value this week.

China’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed the espionage allegations as a smear and on Thursday told Washington to stop using them as a pretext for technology restrictions.

“The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments, and product roadmap to continue without interruption,” Jones said.

Kress, who joined Nvidia in 2013 after nearly 25 years at companies including Cisco and Microsoft, said she was committed to building on “the extraordinary foundation Jensen created.”

Nvidia will report its quarterly results as scheduled on Tuesday, November 17.