Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Thursday announced his resignation from the technology company, days after he provoked a storm of controversy over revelations he had an affair with a suspected spy for China.
Huang apologized on Sunday for having an affair with Alice Huang, whom U.S. officials reportedly believe exploited the relationship to gather intelligence for Beijing. Though Nvidia’s board of directors initially stood by him, a report broke Wednesday that it was preparing to oust him, minutes after the New York Times reported Huang had a second extramarital relationship with a company employee.
Nvidia announced the following day that Huang resigned as Nvidia’s President, CEO and a member of the Board, “effective immediately.” Executive vice president Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO, Nvidia said in a press release, praising Huang’s “profound” contributions to the company.
“The Board and the company thank Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry,” Nvidia said.
In a statement, Kress committed to building on “the extraordinary foundation Jensen created” since he co-founded the company in 1993. Over the past three decades, Huang has built Nvidia into one of the world’s top technology leaders, and the dominant AI chip maker in the artificial intelligence industry.
“We will continue advancing the work that has made NVIDIA a leader in accelerated computing and AI, and execute on the opportunities ahead,” Kress said. “Our focus remains on serving our customers, partners, developers and shareholders.”
The development marks a lightning fall from grace for Huang, who was viewed as one of the industry’s top power players, building the Silicon Valley chipmaker into a $4 trillion global behemoth.
The FBI is now investigating the former CEO’s relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, which U.S. intelligence officials appear to believe holds suspicious links to the Chinese government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly sent a memo to officials earlier this year saying that U.S. intelligence indicated that Huang was in a romantic relationship with a business executive who worked with Chinese spy agencies.
Fresh allegations that Jensen Huang had an affair with a Nvidia vice president, Kimberly Powell, further embroiled the former CEO in controversy on Wednesday, hours before the company announced his resignation.
Nvidia’s stock plunged more than 11% after the board’s announcement.
NVIDIA DEFENDS CEO’S TIES TO EXECUTIVE ACCUSED OF AIDING CHINESE INTELLIGENCE
While Huang’s future is uncertain, some in the tech industry are standing by him.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday evening said it “would be an honor” to hire Huang.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.