Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns after his affair raises national security concerns

Summary

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned Thursday after an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy raised national security concerns.
• The board named CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO & appointed Harvey C. Jones as the company's first-ever chairman.
• Nvidia shares plunged 10 percent in premarket trading following the scandal.
• Media reports indicate Huang also had an affair with an Nvidia employee who reports to him, though the AP could not independently confirm this.
• The affair with the alleged spy involved Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive, who is not related to Jensen Huang.
• U.S. intelligence determined Alice Huang was feeding information to Beijing, prompting an FBI investigation announced by President Donald Trump.
• Megaspeed International stated it takes U.S. export control laws seriously & pledged full cooperation with the U.S. government.
• Nvidia maintains it has no reason to believe national security or secrets were compromised but is conducting an inquiry.
• Megaspeed reported its total assets surged 90-fold from late 2023 to 2024, reaching nearly US$3 billion.
• Megaspeed's revenue jumped from zero in 2023 to over US$294 million in 2024.
• Megaspeed hired a U.S. law firm to conduct a comprehensive census of its computer chips to verify export control compliance.
• Jensen Huang previously secured President Trump's approval in January for selling H200 chips to China.