Nvidia CEO Steps Down Amid Scandal

Jensen Huang is resigning as chief executive of Nvidia, a move that removes the primary figurehead of the artificial intelligence sector. The 63-year-old co-founder will also leave the board of the company he helped establish as a global leader in chip manufacturing.

Nvidia announced on Thursday that Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. The company simultaneously appointed Harvey Jones, the former chief executive of Synopsys and a current board member, as its first independent chairman.

The departure follows intense scrutiny of Huang's personal life. Reports revealed that he had an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud provider. US authorities have concluded that Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset, although Beijing has denied the claim. The two are not related and have been photographed together in Taiwan, Singapore, and California.

Pressure increased on Wednesday after the New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also maintained a romantic relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare. Powell reported directly to Huang. The board convened on that day to discuss his potential removal after these reports surfaced.

The stock market reacted sharply to the news. Nvidia shares declined by more than 10% in premarket trading, dragging down the wider market. The company's valuation stands at $4 trillion. Huang holds a stake of approximately 3.61% in the firm, making him the fourth-largest individual investor.

Investors have already expressed concern over the sustainability of the AI boom. High cash burn rates and rising debt at major tech firms have fueled doubts about future returns. Huang's departure introduces additional uncertainty for an ecosystem that relies on Nvidia's financial support for cloud providers and research labs.

President Donald Trump commented on Sunday that Huang had done an amazing job for the country. The president added that Huang told him he did not know his partner was a spy. The board launched an investigation into whether Huang was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation earlier this month. That probe is led by independent directors with outside legal counsel.