Jensen Huang resigns, ending more than three decades at Nvidia

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Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia CEO after reports of two affairs, including with a businesswoman reportedly identified as a Chinese spy. Colette Kress is interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor.

Jensen Huang resigned as chief executive of Nvidia on Thursday, ending a run of more than three decades in which he built the chipmaker he cofounded and became one of the AI boom's most powerful figures

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. The board announced his departure shortly before markets opened, after reports that he had an affair with a businesswoman whom US intelligence reportedly identified as a Chinese spy. He also had a relationship with a Nvidia vice president who reported directly to him, which the company's rules forbid

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Source: Phandroid

Source: Phandroid

The New York Times reported the second relationship on Wednesday, and the board announced the exit the next morning

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. Per Wired's reporting, the spy affair alone he might have weathered; the direct-report relationship was what made the situation untenable for the board

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. Huang apologized in writing: "There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."

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The spy allegation and the Huawei trail

Alice Huang, a Hong Kong-based businesswoman, was first seen publicly with Jensen Huang in December 2023 in Taipei; the timing of the relationship itself is unknown

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. US intelligence has reportedly identified her as a Chinese spy, an allegation China denies

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Source: Slate

Source: Slate

New CNBC reporting, built on analysis by the private intelligence firm Tesari, traces her business network to computing power that reached Huawei Cloud

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. Nvidia itself named Huawei a top competitor in 2024

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. A firm she co-owned held a stake in a company that controlled a Shenzhen data center whose key customer was Huawei Cloud

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. Her network also guaranteed the data center's loans

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. That same network sits inside Nvidia's own China sales channel

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. Megaspeed, spun out of a cloud business she sold in 2019, facilitated chip shipments worth at least $7.5 billion to Chinese companies

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Tesari's Brian Andersen said the activity "warrants a national security and [technology] counterproliferation investigation"

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. It is unclear whether the data center ever obtained Nvidia GPUs, and Nvidia, Huawei and both Huangs did not respond to requests for comment

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Who runs Nvidia now

Nvidia makes an estimated 90% of the world's advanced AI chips, so the question of who runs it matters far beyond one company

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. The company is worth roughly $4 trillion, and its revenue grew from about $1 billion in 2013 to $57 billion last year

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. Shares plunged on the news, erasing roughly $601 billion in value before recovering some of the loss

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. They had already hit their lowest level in over a year amid bubble talk and the rumors

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Source: Futurism

Source: Futurism

Colette Kress, Nvidia's chief financial officer since 2013, is now interim chief executive while keeping her finance role

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. Board chair Harvey Jones said she has a deep understanding of the business and the board's full confidence

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. Operations and the product roadmap, he said, were expected to continue without interruption

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Finding a permanent successor is the harder problem. Huang ran the company hands-on with about 60 direct reports and insisted he needed no succession plan

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. He owned only about 3.5% of the company, which is what gave the board the leverage to act

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. Analysts say no single person can combine his technical depth, his industry ties and his Washington relationships

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. The names floated so far, including Nvidia's Ian Buck and Arm chief Rene Haas, are speculation rather than announcements

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. Inside the company, one employee told Wired: "In just three days we went from superhero cape to 'Oops, I forgot my pants,' and nobody's quite sure how to swallow that"

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Washington and the defenses

Congressional scrutiny landed the same day. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries demanded a classified briefing, saying "We need a classified briefing made available to members of Congress" on whether national security was compromised

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. Republicans demanded Huang testify, and he has reportedly agreed to appear before Congress before Thanksgiving

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. The Commerce Department could also close the window that lets Chinese firms reach Nvidia computing through third-party clouds abroad

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Prominent founders and some employees called the resignation rushed or a mistake, arguing that the affairs alone should not end a tenure of more than three decades

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. Trump had said Tuesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the matter

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. He also defended Huang and suggested Tim Cook should take the job: "A Legend replaces a Legend!"

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. Musk said it would "be an honor" to hire him

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The board says it does not believe Huang compromised any secrets, and it has retained the law firm Wachtell Lipton for an investigation

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. Nvidia reports quarterly earnings next week

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