Jensen Huang has stepped down as CEO of Nvidia following revelations about multiple extramarital affairs. The board of directors has appointed chief financial officer Colette Kress to take temporary charge of the company.
The controversy stems from a spy scandal involving with Alice Huang, an executive at Singaporean technology company MegaSpeed and suspected Chinese intelligence asset. The board of directors launched an independent investigation into the events. According to the company, there is currently no evidence that national security information or confidential company data has been leaked.
A second relationship, this time with Kimberly Powell, a senior executive who leads Nvidia’s healthcare initiatives, was revealed by The New York Times, citing anonymous sources.
Since founding Nvidia in 1993 with Curtis Priem and Chris Malachowsky, Huang has built the company from a specialist in graphics cards for 3D gaming into a global powerhouse.
The introduction of CUDA in 2006 and the DGX-1 AI server in 2013 laid the foundations for the company’s dominant position. Those strategic decisions enabled the company to capitalise on the launch of ChatGPT in 2022. This led to an unprecedented rise in the company’s value and brought Huang international recognition.
Beyond his technological leadership and trademark leather jacket, Huang emerged as a significant political figure. He maintained regular contact with leaders in Washington, including President Donald Trump. In those discussions, he advocated easing restrictions on chip exports to China.
Although the Biden administration had previously restricted exports of high-end products to prevent China from gaining a military advantage in AI, President Trump ultimately allowed certain less advanced hardware to be sold to the Chinese market.
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