Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang Resigns After Admitting Affair With Suspected Chinese Spy

Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO of Nvidia days after admitting an affair with a woman reportedly suspected of being a Chinese spy, the company’s board says.

Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is interim CEO. Nvidia has also named its first-ever chair, Harvey Jones, a former head of chip design software maker Synopsys.

Huang admitted the affair on Sunday. The BBC reports the woman was from another company and is suspected to be a Chinese spy. The New York Times then reported a second affair, with an executive at Nvidia. Nvidia and the FBI are investigating the affair Huang admitted.

Nvidia shares fell more than 13% at the U.S. open and recovered to about 6% down by mid-morning. CoreWeave and Nebius, which Nvidia has invested in, fell about 5% and 16%.

Beijing has warned the U.S. not to use the spying allegations as a pretext to restrict tech sales to China again.

“This is the age of AI, but this is a human story. This is a very classic human story of hubris, masculine hubris and overconfidence,” said Stephen Witt, Huang’s biographer, who called it “one of the most incredible downfalls of a corporate executive in recent history.”