Jensen Huang quits Nvidia the morning after a second affair report

57 Sources

Share

Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia's CEO on November 12 after reports of a second affair. The stock fell hard, a $500 billion financing program is in question, and the chip-smuggling scandal underneath is still unfolding.

Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and board member of Nvidia on Thursday, effective immediately. He leaves after a 33-year run as the only chief executive the company has ever had

9

5

.

Source: BNN

Source: BNN

The announcement came on November 12. He co-founded the company in 1993, and the roughly $4-trillion chipmaker widely described as central to the AI boom is now without the man who ran it from the start

7

4

.

The morning after the second story

The resignation capped a two-week cascade: the first spy-affair report, Huang's November 8 apology email, the board's investigation announcement, then the second-affair story Wednesday night and an overnight board meeting

7

1

5

. On November 8, Huang admitted in an email to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife. Nvidia said the same day it was investigating whether a foreign intelligence service had targeted him

9

5

. The resignation came the morning after the New York Times revealed a second affair, this one with Nvidia vice president Kimberly Powell, one of his direct subordinates

7

1

5

. The company's statement gave no reason for the resignation and did not address either affair

9

5

. One columnist argues the second affair is a pretext and that the real driver was the Megaspeed spy and smuggling scandal

1

.

The market treated it as more than a personnel change. Shares dropped more than 13% in early trading before paring to about 5% down by midday

4

5

. Per Reuters market commentary, Nvidia's leadership uncertainty moves the whole AI trade because the company sits at the center of investment sentiment

2

. "The [b]oard has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company's operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption," new board chair Harvey Jones said

7

.

Who runs it now, and the $500 billion question

Chief financial officer Colette Kress becomes interim CEO and keeps that role while the board searches for a permanent successor among internal and external candidates

9

5

. The board's memo cited her 13 years as chief financial officer and her role in shaping Nvidia's growth and capital strategy

10

7

. She joined Nvidia in September 2013 after senior finance roles at Microsoft, Cisco and Texas Instruments

5

8

. Harvey C. Jones, a director and former Synopsys CEO, became Nvidia's first-ever board chair

9

5

. President Trump had his own idea, posting on Truth Social that "there is only one man to take his place - TIM COOK of Apple"

7

.

Source: ET

Source: ET

Money is the bigger worry. In August, Nvidia signed memorandums of understanding with six financial firms, including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs. The aim is to mobilize more than $500 billion for AI infrastructure, using Nvidia chips as collateral

4

. The agreements are preliminary and subject to final terms

4

. Per a Raymond James executive, Huang's personal push may have been what brought those lenders to the table

4

. "I don't think the capital walks away, because these lenders are underwriting Nvidia's chips and the customer contracts behind them, but they could want to be paid more for the uncertainty," said Sunaina Sinha Haldea of Raymond James

4

. Analysts warn lenders could demand tighter terms or slower commitments, and one strategist says it could set off a wider repricing of risk across AI, though he does not call it a financing crisis yet

4

.

The scandal underneath

The personal scandal likely sits on top of a substantive one. Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive (no relation to Jensen), was reportedly determined by US intelligence agencies to be feeding information to Beijing, an allegation China denies as unsubstantiated

7

3

5

. Megaspeed, a Singapore-based customer and Nvidia's largest buyer in Southeast Asia, was reportedly accused last year of illicitly shipping advanced Nvidia chips into China and denied it

3

1

5

. Nvidia reportedly stepped in to halt a 2025 Commerce Department probe of the company, which was moved to the Justice Department and stalled there

3

1

. Short seller Culper Research claimed in May that over 20% of Nvidia's fiscal 2026 compute revenue was still China-driven, against Huang's public claim of zero percent market share under export controls

1

. US intelligence flagged concerns about Alice Huang and Megaspeed to the Trump administration about a year before the scandal broke

3

5

. Asked whether he wished he had acted sooner, Trump said "I don't think so"

5

.

Nvidia's position is that it had no reason to believe national security or proprietary information were compromised, and Huang has said he saw no evidence of AI chip diversion

9

1

5

. That has not quieted Washington. Lawmakers from both parties are calling for investigations, at least one shareholder lawsuit has been filed, and Elizabeth Warren, set to chair the Senate Banking Committee from January, could issue subpoenas

3

1

5

.

Source: The Hill

Source: The Hill

Kress has scheduled an all-hands company meeting for November 18, the day after Nvidia reports fiscal third-quarter results

9

10

8

. The first public test comes Tuesday, when Nvidia reports earnings under Kress.

© 2026 TheOutpost.AI All rights reserved