Billions lost, affairs and a Trump bromance: 10 things you need to know about the Nvidia scandal
Nvidia chief Jensen Huang has resigned from his top post at the chipmaker he co-founded, after reports of the tech titan’s extramarital affairs came into the spotlight this week.
One of those relationships has raised national security concerns. The New York Times reported that Huang had an affair with a businesswoman US intelligence suspects to be a Chinese spy, which Beijing denies. Separately, the outlet and later others found Huang was said to have had another affair with an Nvidia executive who reported to him directly – compounding calls for him to step down. Reports of a third affair, this time with another Nvidia employee, emerged on Friday following his resignation.
Nvidia announced Huang’s resignation, effective immediately. The California-based company said that Colette Kress – who has been Nvidia’s chief financial officer and executive vice president since 2013 – will step into the role of interim chief executive.
The scandal marks the most tumultuous chapter yet for Nvidia, whose high-end chips have emerged as the leading building blocks for artificial intelligence. Huang has become a key face in the AI race, both across the industry and often on US President Donald Trump’s side in Washington.
Here’s what we know.
Who is Nvidia’s interim chief executive?
Nvidia says that Colette Kress is now interim chief executive. Before joining Nvidia more than 13 years ago, Kress worked at Cisco, Microsoft and Texas Instruments in various roles, according to her executive biography on the company’s website.
In a statement about her new post on Thursday, Kress said that Nvidia’s “strength has always come from its people” and that she was “committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years”.
The company’s board of directors also said that it had named its first-ever chairman, Harvey C. Jones, an entrepreneur and venture investor.
Who is Alice Huang?
Over the weekend, following news reports of Huang’s relationship with a woman identified as former Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, Nvidia’s then chief executive apologised for being “unfaithful to my wife”.
“My actions hurt her and our children,” Huang wrote in an email to employees, adding that his colleagues also “deserve better” from him.
Neither Huang nor Nvidia identified who he had been intimate with by name, but the apology arrived shortly after Nvidia said it was investigating whether Huang had been “the target of a foreign intelligence effort”.
Last month, the Times reported that US intelligence agencies discovered Nvidia’s Huang had developed a close relationship with Alice Huang, who also goes by the name Huang Le – and determined she was feeding information directly to Beijing. (Huang is a common surname and the two are not related.)
Who is Kimberly Powell?
The New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare.
The Times reported Huang, 63, and Powell, 48, were captured on video being affectionate at a San Jose, California, hotel during an Nvidia conference in March. Both Huang and Powell are married to other people.
Nvidia’s code of conduct instructs staff to avoid situations that could create conflict, including “personal relationships”.
Who is Lori Huang?
The scandal also has ramifications for Huang’s personal life. Huang’s admission has fuelled speculation about the fate of his 41-year marriage with Lori Huang, 64. She is president of the Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Foundation, which had $US9 billion ($13.1 billion) in assets as of 2024, including $US6 billion in fresh funding that year. Of Jensen Huang’s 922 million Nvidia shares, more than half belong to a trust where he and Lori Huang are the co-trustees, according to financial filings. She is also the sole controller of a trust that owns about $US5 billion worth of Nvidia shares.
Lori Huang joins a small group of tech titan spouses who have had to grapple with public infidelity. The list includes MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Melinda French Gates, ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
The succession problem: who might replace Huang?
Huang co-founded Nvidia back in 1993, and had led the company ever since, with no clear successor in sight. Huang’s ouster has led to a scramble for a new permanent chief executive, and Nvidia said it was considering both “internal and external candidates”.
As well as Kress, various other names have been floated as potential successors, including Nvidia co-founder Chris Malachowsky, AMD chief executive Lisa Su (who is a cousin of Jensen Huang), Arm boss Rene Haas, former Google chief Eric Schmidt and Intel chief executive Lip-Bu Tan. US President Donald Trump also weighed in, saying former Apple chief Tim Cook should take the role.
“NOW THAT Nvidia CEO JENSEN HUANG, who has done a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to take his place – TIM COOK of Apple,” Trump said on social media. “A Legend replaces a Legend!” he added.
Where investigations stand
Nvidia hasn’t provided any notable new updates in its internal review that was first announced at the weekend. At the time, the company said it had “no reason to believe” that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, but that its inquiry would examine all available information.
Trump was reportedly briefed about intelligence findings involving Huang well before the scandal erupted publicly. But when asked at the weekend whether he wished he had acted sooner on that information, the president said, “I don’t think so”, and maintained that Nvidia’s chief executive was an “honorable guy”.
Trump later said the FBI was looking into Huang’s affair with Alice Huang, although where exactly that probe stands is unclear. Meanwhile, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill are calling for further investigations.
Many eyes have been on Nvidia’s ties to Singapore-based Megaspeed International, which prominently touts the companies’ partnership on its website. Last year, Megaspeed was accused of illicitly shipping advanced Nvidia computer chips into China, but in December said there was “no evidence” of such exports.
On Thursday, Megaspeed maintained that it took its obligation to comply with American export control laws “extremely seriously” – and that it was committed to working “constructively and transparently” with the US government.
Singaporean authorities said they questioned Alice Huang and confiscated her passport last year as part of an investigation into Megaspeed. They concluded there wasn’t enough evidence that she had committed a crime, but suspected she provided “inaccurate information” to downplay her role at Megaspeed and barred her from returning to the country.
China, meanwhile, has denied that it attempted to ensnare Jensen Huang. Its Foreign Ministry earlier this week called the spying allegations “unsubstantiated” and said they amount to a smear campaign.
What is it with the leather jackets?
Jensen Huang has become known for his vast collection of leather jackets. They have become a staple of his wardrobe and his persona, and were his trademark look while delivering speeches.
Huang credits wife Lori and daughter Madison with coming up with the look. He is reported to have 60 jackets in his wardrobe. A Tom Ford leather jacket worn and signed by Huang, sold in July at a Sotheby’s auction for $US960,000. The proceeds were donated to charity.
Donald and Jensen’s bromance
Huang has maintained a close relationship to Trump throughout the Republican president’s second term in office. He has successfully lobbied for looser AI regulation overall – including less strict limits on sales of Nvidia chips to China. And he is among tech chief executives who have dined at the White House, and even travelled on Air Force One.
Trump has called Huang “smart” and “amazing”, repeatedly insisting he join him on foreign trips. After news of his resignation broke on Thursday, the president maintained that Huang had done “done a fantastic job”.
The entrepreneur praised Trump effusively in 2025 before a meeting. “I come with only one purpose only, which is to inform and to be in service of the president as he thinks about how to make America great,” Huang told reporters.
Nvidia committed $US25 million to help fund Trump’s White House ballroom renovation, a major personal priority for the president in his second term.
Last month, Trump presented Jensen Huang with the National Medal of Science. On Friday, Trump said Huang called him and expressed remorse over what the scandal had done to his family.
Trump, in a White House interview with the broadcaster Stephen A. Smith on Thursday, praised Huang just hours after his ouster.
“What he’s done is incredible,” Trump said. “Nvidia is unbelievable.
“I spoke to him yesterday. He’s going through hell. What he feels most badly about is his wife and family. That’s what he told me. He called me.”
How has this affected Nvidia’s share price?
Nvidia shares closed 4.3 per cent lower and have tumbled this week, wiping nearly $US500 billion off the market capitalisation of the company. The company is now valued around $US4 trillion, having been worth more than $US5.8 trillion in early October.
Jensen Huang’s personal net worth has fallen by about $US19 billion this week, dropping him out of the world’s top 10 richest people list, according to Forbes. He is now the 13th richest person in the world with a net worth of about $US143 billion.
A new test for the AI industry
The shockwaves of Huang’s exit stress just how few figures hold so much power in the AI race. Nvidia is one of the world’s most valuable companies today – and Huang has risen to fame across the tech world.
Some analysts suspect that the foreign intelligence allegations will strengthen calls in Washington for stricter export controls with China, which could in turn renew trade strains overall. Others have called it a watershed moment for Nvidia, the chipmaker that has long been seen as the crown jewel for powering AI. And questions of security risks facing the companies at the forefront of this technology are piling up
Stephanie Balaouras, group research director for Forrester, said Huang’s resignation from Nvidia wasn’t just a test for the company but the AI boom as a whole.
“If Nvidia stabilises quickly under new leadership, the AI infrastructure boom will have demonstrated resilience,” she said. “If its stock, financing relationships, or ecosystem commitments remain under sustained pressure, that would add evidence to the fragile side of the AI bubble ledger.”
AP, Bloomberg
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