In a stunning shakeup for the global artificial intelligence industry, tech giant Nvidia has confirmed that Jensen Huang resigns as chief executive officer, president, and board member effective immediately. The company’s board of directors announced that longtime Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been appointed as interim CEO while a search for a permanent successor gets underway.
The sudden departure ends Huang’s 33-year tenure at the helm of the chipmaker he co-founded in 1993 and transformed into one of the world’s most valuable companies. News of his exit sent immediate shockwaves through Wall Street, causing Nvidia shares to plummet by more than 13 percent when US markets opened before recovering some ground during morning trading.
Huang’s resignation follows days of mounting pressure after he admitted in an internal note to staff to having an extramarital affair. The woman involved has been identified in reports as Alice Huang, an executive at the Singapore-based data center firm Megaspeed whom US intelligence officials suspect of acting as a Chinese spy. The controversy intensified further following reports from The New York Times alleging that Huang also had a second extramarital relationship with a senior executive inside Nvidia who reported directly to him.
While Nvidia’s board stated it has found no reason to believe that national security or internal company secrets were compromised, the fallout has already drawn intense political scrutiny in Washington. US lawmakers on Capitol Hill confirmed that Huang has agreed to appear before Congress for questioning regarding the national security implications of the allegations.
Meanwhile, Beijing has pushed back against the espionage claims, warning the United States not to use the allegations as a pretext to impose fresh restrictions on semiconductor and technology sales to China. Despite steering Nvidia to unprecedented dominance at the center of the global AI boom, Huang’s extraordinary run at the top of Silicon Valley has come to an abrupt close over personal conduct and geopolitical fallout.
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