Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned Thursday following revelations that he had extramarital affairs with an alleged Chinese spy as well as an executive who reported to him. Huang admitted Sunday to having a romantic relationship with Alice Huang (no relation), a former executive at the Singaporean data center firm Megaspeed, whom U.S. intelligence agencies determined was gathering information for Beijing. He was also found to have engaged in an affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, according to five firm employees who choose to remain anonymous.
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Huang was widely regarded as irreplaceable after having served as Nvidia’s CEO since 1993 with no clear succession plan. The firm’s board named CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO.
Huang had previously persuaded President Donald Trump to roll back a ban on chip sales to China. Analysts regard his ouster as a setback for both the U.S. and China in the AI race.
Nvidia is the world’s second-most valuable company, accounting for 8.5 percent of the S&P 500. Shares of the firm dived roughly 10 percent following Huang’s resignation.
