Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns following affair and spying allegations
Colette Kress takes over as interim chief executive after Jensen Huang stepped down following an affair with Alice Huang.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned on Thursday as a member of the company's Board, after admitting to an affair with Alice Huang, a woman accused of being a Chinese spy. According to reports from News18, the Board of Directors thanked Huang for his profound and immeasurable contributions to the industry.
Colette Kress, the current Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will serve as Interim CEO until a permanent successor is named. Kress stated she is committed to building on the foundation created by Huang over the last 33 years.
The resignation follows an investigation into whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, was a senior executive at the Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed. A memo circulated by US intelligence last spring alleged she was an asset of China’s Ministry of State Security, though Beijing has rejected the spying allegations.
According to The Information, companies linked to Huang have invested in the Chinese AI firm DeepSeek and committed to supplying Nvidia's Blackwell chips. There are concerns that cutting-edge AI chips purchased by Megaspeed may have been diverted to China, circumventing US export restrictions.
Singapore authorities previously issued a warning to Huang and barred her from re-entering the country after finding she provided inaccurate information during investigations into Megaspeed. The Singapore Police Force assessed that she attempted to mislead investigators regarding her role in the company.
Business Standard reported that Huang is currently living in Beijing. She founded Megaspeed in 2023, and the company has since imported Nvidia products worth more than $4.6 billion.
