Nvidia employees call for Jensen Huang's return after his resignation

Reviewed byNidhi Govil

34 Sources

Share

Jensen Huang's resignation over admitted affairs leaves Nvidia without a succession plan. The scandal reaches chip smuggling, credit markets and Congress.

Jensen Huang resigned as chief executive of Nvidia on Thursday after admitting to multiple extramarital affairs, including one with a woman US intelligence believes is a Chinese spy

2

9

. The founder led the company for 33 years and had said he intended to run it for decades more; his sudden exit leaves the chipmaker most identified with the AI boom without a permanent leader or a publicly disclosed succession plan

8

5

3

.

Source: BNN

Source: BNN

How two weeks ended a 33-year run

Rumors about the relationship circulated from late October, and Nvidia initially denied anything beyond normal customer contact

1

. Then, according to reports, the company's general counsel confronted Huang at his house; he confessed, apologized, and the board formed an independent investigative committee

1

.

The woman at the center of the espionage concern is Alice Huang, no relation, a Megaspeed executive

2

8

4

. Her Singapore-based cloud company is accused of moving at least $7.5 billion of Nvidia's advanced chips to China, and is under investigation over whether restricted chips were diverted to Chinese companies

2

8

4

. Her husband, businessman Kang Wei, reportedly introduced the two

2

8

4

. The relationship dates to 2023, per the NYT. Nvidia was then redesigning chips to comply with the first strict US export controls on China sales, a policy Huang had long lobbied to loosen

6

8

5

.

US intelligence believes she was a spy, but the allegation is unsettled. Nvidia's board says it has no reason to believe US security or company secrets were breached, and Megaspeed denies wrongdoing

2

4

. Some intelligence officials have not yet concluded she was a spy

2

4

. Researchers are examining whether her web of companies touched Huawei or DeepSeek, both restricted Chinese firms; that link is only a possibility under examination

4

.

The security concern is not what ended Huang. Reuters, citing two people familiar with the matter, reports Huang also had affairs with Kimberly Powell, a vice president who worked under him, and a second unnamed Nvidia employee

9

6

1

. The subordinate relationship is what reportedly pushed the board to act

9

6

1

.

Employees have not turned on Huang. More than 1,600 comments on internal forums, most calling for his reinstatement, followed the resignation, and Bloomberg reported Huang appeared "broken and shattered" at the meeting where he stepped down

1

. "If you believe in the mission, bring back THE boss," one employee wrote

1

.

The market flinched; the market held

Nvidia shares fell as much as 14% on Thursday before recovering much of the loss, and the stock has shed nearly $2 trillion in just over a month

2

4

. Nvidia's crisis barely touched the broader market, where US stocks sit only about 3% below their record high, cushioned by investors rotating into defensive sectors

2

4

. The asymmetry reflects Nvidia's reach. It supplies something like 90% of the world's AI chips, per the NYT, and also acts as a bank to the AI build-out

6

3

.

Source: Market Screener

Source: Market Screener

The financing worry centers on Nvidia and predates the resignation. Investors were already concerned about AI debt, with tech bond yields up and credit-default swap spreads wider

3

. Nvidia had $36 billion in off-balance-sheet backstops for smaller cloud providers as of its July filing

3

. PitchBook's tally puts its reported 2026 investment in US AI at $189 billion, the largest corporate backer of the build-out

10

. Goldman Sachs' James Schneider said Nvidia will likely fulfill existing commitments but may find new multi-party deals harder to negotiate at the same scale

3

. CreditSights' Andy Li expects Nvidia's circular financing to moderate

3

. CoreWeave, the most Nvidia-dependent of the smaller cloud providers, saw a results-driven bounce on Tuesday reverse sharply by Thursday

2

3

. Its 9.75% 2031 bond yielded 14.75% on Friday, and its credit-default swap spread sits above 1,000, a level generally read as a sign of distress

2

3

. "Nvidia is not one person," CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said, predicting the partnership continues

3

. One venture investor was blunter, warning that neoclouds dependent on Nvidia's bankrolling could be "really screwed"

10

. Rivals saw an opening in Nvidia's distress, with Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices jumping 5% on Thursday

4

.

Washington wants answers

The Senate Banking Committee has called Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify in the coming weeks over the national-security concerns, or face subpoenas

9

4

. Reuters reports senior White House officials are discussing whether to push Lutnick out for failing to restrict chip sales to China more aggressively

2

. Trump said Monday he was "amazed" by the revelations, but the NYT reports he had previously been briefed on the relationship and the spying concerns

2

6

. Trump also publicly urged Huang to fight for his job, suggesting Tim Cook as a successor: "A Legend replaces a Legend!"

6

1

.

The succession nobody planned

CFO Colette Kress, 13 years as CFO through revenue growth from $4.13 billion to $130.5 billion, takes over as interim CEO while keeping the finance role

7

. Harvey Jones becomes board chair

7

. The Wall Street Journal says Huang belittled her, and The Information reports his children, all Nvidia executives, have clashed with her, a wrinkle for the interim arrangement

4

. Recruiters call Kress, at Nvidia since 2013, the right interim choice but expect the board to seek a technologist for the permanent job

7

. Experts tell CNBC the handover is harder than past founder exits at Apple, Alphabet or Uber because it was sudden and unplanned

5

.

Source: Fortune

Source: Fortune

Nvidia reports earnings on Tuesday, the same week Anthropic's IPO is set to price at a targeted $1.4 trillion valuation

2

10

.

© 2026 TheOutpost.AI All rights reserved