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Nvidia's chief executive officer, Jensen Huang, resigned Thursday after his extramarital affair raised national security concerns, in a spectacular downfall for the veteran boss of the chipmaker, a vital player in the artificial intelligence boom.
Huang faced growing calls to resign following his affair with a Chinese businesswoman who, according to reports, also acted as a spy for Beijing. His problems deepened late Wednesday after news reports indicated that Huang had another extramarital relationship with an Nvidia employee who was his subordinate.
The dismissal sets off a race to find a permanent replacement to lead Nvidia, which did not have a succession plan. The company explained in a statement that the board of directors will consider candidates both inside and outside the company.
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The company named Colette Kress as interim CEO. Kress is the current executive vice president and chief financial officer. She became CFO in 2013, overseeing the company's global financial operations. Before that, she worked for three years at Cisco and spent 13 years at Microsoft.
In a statement on Thursday, Kress said that Nvidia's “strength” has “always come from its people” and that she was “committed to building on the extraordinary foundation that Jensen created over the last 33 years”.
The board of directors reported on Thursday that it also named its first chairman, Harvey C. Jones, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist.
Nvidia's shares plummeted 14% at the opening bell on Thursday, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.5%. The company is scheduled to report earnings on Tuesday.
The Nvidia board of directors reportedly met to discuss Huang's future following revelations that he was having an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International, who is suspected of being a Chinese government agent. The two are not related.
In its first statement since the scandal broke, Singapore-based Megaspeed International noted on Thursday that it takes its obligation to comply with US export control laws “very seriously”. The company prominently highlights its collaboration with Nvidia on its website.
“Megaspeed is committed to working constructively and transparently with the United States government,” said the statement, signed by its chairman and CEO, Tan Yong Pong, also known as James Tan.
Nvidia has maintained that it had “no reason to believe” that national security or Nvidia's secrets had been compromised, but that its inquiry will examine all available information.
The Times reported last month that US intelligence agencies discovered that Huang had developed a close relationship with Alice Huang — and determined that she provided information directly to Beijing. On Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced that the FBI was investigating.
Last year, Megaspeed faced allegations of illicitly shipping advanced Nvidia computer chips to China, but in December it highlighted that there was “no evidence” of those exports.
Singaporean authorities reported on Thursday that they questioned Alice Huang and confiscated her passport last year as part of an investigation into Megaspeed. They concluded there was insufficient evidence that she had committed a crime, but banned her from returning to the country.
China has denied involvement in an attempt to honey-trap Jensen Huang, who runs one of the most valuable companies in the world. Nvidia has become a leading company in the sector by making chips that power artificial intelligence, and Huang has lobbied Washington to relax limitations on sales of Nvidia chips to China. In January, he won Trump's approval to market his H200 chips in China.
In its Thursday statement, Megaspeed maintained that it has cooperated with the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which is responsible for enforcing national security restrictions on technology exports, and that it was ready to “fully cooperate with any other relevant US government authority”.
Furthermore, it noted that it hired a US law firm to conduct a “comprehensive census” of its computer chips and verify its export controls.
“Megaspeed accepts appropriate government scrutiny and is committed to demonstrating through concrete actions that it operates in a responsible, transparent manner and in compliance with applicable US laws,” it noted.
Beyond national security questions, Megaspeed's finances have also drawn attention. Its total assets multiplied by approximately 90 from the end of 2023 to 2024, to nearly $3 billion, according to Singapore corporate filings.
Revenue skyrocketed to more than $294 million in 2024, after having none in 2023.
[Publicidad]