Jensen Huang leaves Nvidia amid security concerns over reported relationships

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Nvidia said on Thursday that Jensen Huang had stepped down as chief executive, ending a 33-year tenure that began when he co-founded the chipmaker. The reports describe a sudden departure after allegations about his personal relationships raised questions about the company’s security and drew political attention in Washington. They do not establish whether Huang chose to leave or was pushed out.

The allegations concern two relationships. One was with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data firm Megaspeed, who has been described in reports as having suspected links to Chinese espionage. She is not related to Jensen Huang. The other was with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice-president of healthcare, who worked within the company. The New York Times report on the relationship with Powell appeared late on Wednesday, after earlier reporting about Alice Huang. Jensen Huang has apologised for being unfaithful to his wife, but the accounts do not provide a detailed response from him to either allegation.

The affair allegations prompted scrutiny because Nvidia’s chips are central to the competition between the United States and China over artificial intelligence. Huang had been a prominent figure in US technology policy and had engaged with the Trump administration on trade and technology matters. Republican lawmakers, including committee chairs, called for him to answer questions in a closed-door congressional briefing, and Senator Kevin Cramer said he would support a subpoena. Their focus was particularly on whether the alleged connection to Alice Huang had exposed sensitive company information or affected Huang’s judgement; the reports do not establish that espionage took place or that Nvidia’s security was breached.

The departure also drew an unexpected intervention from President Donald Trump, who had publicly backed Huang earlier in the week, saying the chief executive told him he did not know of Alice Huang’s suspected ties. After Huang resigned, Trump praised his record and suggested former Apple chief Tim Cook as a possible successor. The reports portray Nvidia as a company of extraordinary scale and influence, though they give differing valuations and describe substantial share-price and market-value losses following the revelations. They leave unresolved who will lead the company and how the allegations will affect its standing in the AI industry.

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