The speculation has finally turned into reality. Nvidia has just announced that its CEO, Jensen Huang, has resigned as the company’s chief and is also leaving its board of directors. With Huang gone, the company has appointed Colette Kress, currently its executive vice president and chief financial officer, as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent chief for the chip giant.
“Jensen’s contributions to NVIDIA are profound. NVIDIA is one of the most consequential technology companies in the world. The Board and the company thank Jensen for his immeasurable contributions to the company and the industry,” the company said in a statement.
Nvidia didn’t give a reason for Huang’s resignation, but it isn’t entirely unexpected. Ever since he admitted to being unfaithful to his wife, following reports tying him to Alice Huang, an executive at data center company Megaspeed who is allegedly a Chinese spy, pundits have speculated that the company might push him to step down. Just a day after his admission, President Trump confirmed that the FBI is looking into the whole fiasco, which has raised plenty of national security concerns.
Over the past few days, numerous outlets have also reported on how Nvidia chips subject to strict US export controls allegedly made their way to Chinese companies through Megaspeed. According to The Information, Alice Huang, a top Megaspeed executive with close ties to Jensen Huang, helped build a network of companies that served as a conduit for Chinese firms to get their hands on Nvidia’s highly coveted AI chips.
Government agencies are now looking into the Nvidia bombshell, and it could lead to further regulatory and trade tussles between the US and China, both of which are locked in a white-hot AI race. Interestingly, Jensen Huang has earned the support of Silicon Valley’s elites, including figures like Elon Musk and Tim Sweeney, who have publicly expressed their respect for Jensen and the work he did in spearheading Nvidia as the backbone of the current AI boom.