Jensen Huang resigned as chief executive of Nvidia on Thursday following revelations of extramarital affairs, including one with a Chinese businesswoman suspected of espionage, as US authorities investigate her possible ties to Beijing.
Huang admitted the affair with Alice Huang in a memo to employees on Sunday. Reports subsequently emerged that he had also conducted affairs with two female employees, including a Nvidia manager. The US Justice Department said it has not reached a conclusion on whether Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset. CNN reported that sources across the US intelligence community say there is no definitive proof she was an agent for Beijing.
The scandal has wiped around 800 billion dollars from Nvidia's market capitalization. Shares fell as much as 13 percent following the resignation. Colette Kress, the company's chief financial officer, has taken over as interim chief executive.
The Senate Banking Committee has summoned Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify in December, warning they could face legal action if they fail to appear. President Donald Trump defended Huang at a White House press conference, saying: "He said he had no idea she was a spy, and I really believe him that."
In his final hours as chief executive, Huang reportedly responded to discussions with "whatever" and "I don't care," and privately described himself as "a piece of sh**". Employees have rallied behind him, with internal messages urging the board to reinstate him, including one that read: "If you believe in the mission, bring the boss back."
Alice Huang is married to Kang Wei, a Chinese businessman who, according to The Wall Street Journal, introduced her to Huang. Investigators suspect she used companies to divert restricted Nvidia chips to China, with Bloomberg reporting that chips were found in a Shanghai data center. Malaysia said on Friday it is investigating whether AI chips imported by a local unit of Singapore-based Megaspeed were re-exported.
