Jensen Huang has resigned as chief executive of Nvidia with immediate effect after 33 years at the helm, following revelations of two extramarital affairs, one with a woman accused of spying for China. The company's board announced on Thursday that Huang, who co-founded the firm in 1993, had stepped down as president, chief executive and board member, though the company did not give a specific reason for the departure. Nvidia shares fell as much as 13% in early trading on Wall Street following the announcement.
Chief financial officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while retaining her finance role as the board searches for a permanent replacement among internal and external candidates. Harvey C. Jones, a former chief executive of chip design software firm Synopsys, has been named the company's first-ever board chair. "NVIDIA's strength has always come from its people, and together with our leadership team, I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years," Kress said. Jones added that the board has full confidence in Kress and the leadership team and expects operations, customer commitments and the product roadmap to continue without interruption.
The resignation follows Huang admitting on Sunday to a relationship with Alice Huang, a senior executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed, who is not related to him. In an email to staff, Huang wrote: "I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did." He added that he supported the board's investigation and would "cooperate fully". US intelligence reportedly circulated a memo this spring alleging that Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, was an operative for China's Ministry of State Security and was being monitored over possibly steering AI chips to China. Megaspeed runs data centres across Southeast Asia and has become Nvidia's largest customer in the region.
Nvidia's board said it had "no reason to believe" that either national security or Nvidia's secrets were compromised, but that a thorough independent investigation would be carried out. China has rejected the allegations, with a foreign ministry spokesperson saying in October: "The report in question is based on groundless speculation and is nothing more than an attempt to smear China." On Wednesday, The New York Times reported a second affair, citing video evidence of Huang being affectionate with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of health care, at a conference in San Jose, California. Nvidia's code of conduct tells employees to avoid conflicts of interest and gives "personal relationships" as an example. Shareholders have since filed a class action lawsuit against Huang and the company for failing to tell investors about the relationship. Huang had repeatedly avoided naming a successor, and Nvidia said it would release its quarterly results as scheduled on 17 November.
Source: Euronews. Read the original report ↗