Jensen Huang Is Out As Nvidia CEO

Jensen Huang, the high-flying founder and CEO of one of the most valuable companies in the world, resigned today following a meeting by Nvidia‘s board of directors.

Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will take over as interim CEO as the giant chip maker looks for a permanent successor, the company said

The AI chip-maker and its leader have been embroiled in controversy for the past few weeks. First as the news broke about his extramarital affair with a former Chinese state TV reporter turned data center exec, Alice Huang (no relation), for a company that is one of the Nvidia’s biggest customers in Southeast Asia. The New York Times then reported that U.S. intelligence officials believed that the data center exec was passing information on to the Chinese government. Today, the paper reported the Nvidia CEO also had an affair with an exec at his own company.

The Times also reported that U.S. intelligence officials had made the White House aware of Huang’s involvement with a Chinese spy, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly briefing president Donald Trump, who considers Huang a friend. Trump said Monday and Huang denied knowing that Alice Huang had been collecting intelligence for Beijing.

Jensen Huang cut a singular figure earning fame beyond the tech world for his Tom Ford leather jackets as well as his company’s dominance in the booming AI chip market. He appeared on the cover of the Time 100 issue of that same magazine in 2021. He and seven other industry CEOs graced the cover of the publication’s fabled “Person of the Year” issue. They were honored collectively as “the architects of AI.”

Even after dropping down 10% in recent weeks amid the scandal, Nvidia was still valued at neearly 4.2 trillion at the end of trading on Wednesday. That makes it the second most valuable company in the world, trailing only Apple.