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Click here to read the latest on what we know about the relationship between the Chinese government and the businesswoman who had an affair with ousted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Updates
(94)Key developments in the Nvidia crisis
• New interim CEO: Nvidia founder Jensen Huang has resigned after 33 years at the company he built and CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim chief, the chip giant’s board has announced.
• Series of scandals: The decision followed reports that Huang had a relationship with an Nvidia executive. He was already under scrutiny after reports of an affair with another woman who was allegedly working as a spy for China. The day of crisis sent its shares down 4.34%, erasing roughly $182 billion in market value.
• Congress wants answers: Three House committees have summoned Huang for a closed-door interview and the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee requested that the CEO and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testify to discuss “serious concerns about our national security.”
• Trump’s support: President Donald Trump said he’d spoken to Huang before he resigned, describing him as torn up over the fallout of his affairs on his family. Trump encouraged him to fight calls to step down, according to a source.
In Taiwan, Huang's ouster means losing a local hero
Jensen Huang’s sudden downfall comes as an especially large shock in Taiwan, where the tech mogul was born and where his company now manufactures its most advanced chips.
The Taiwanese-American CEO, hailed for his contribution to making the self-ruled island into a global chipmaking force, enjoys rockstar status there, mobbed by swarming fans and boosting business at the restaurants he visits.
The scandal is exacerbated by the fact that one of Huang’s extramarital affairs was reportedly with a woman US officials believe may be an intelligence asset for China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has threatened to take it by force, if necessary.
On social media, some Taiwanese expressed sorrow having to say goodbye to such an influential figure they could claim as their own.
“As a Taiwanese, I hope Jensen comes back soon,” one wrote. “Too heartbreaking,” said another.
Still, one post thanked him for choosing to set up a new headquarters for Nvidia in Taiwan, and helping to boost the visibility of the local supply chain in the tech industry.
“As we bid farewell to Jensen Huang, we send off someone who once lit up an era. Now, Taiwan needs to learn how to carry on going forward without a hero,” wrote Owen Lin, a veteran tech journalist and author.
Scandal could cast chill over Asia data center build-out
A wider pause on investment in Asian data centers could be an unexpected outcome of the scrutiny now facing Megaspeed International – the Singapore-based cloud computing company linked to the alleged Chinese spy reportedly involved with Jensen Huang.
That’s because businesses like Megaspeed, which has bought more than $4 billion worth of chips from Nvidia, can enable loopholes in US export controls by renting out computing services to Chinese companies, giving them access to advanced US chips.
Asia-based entities are also a common channel for intermediaries to help smuggle US chips into China, experts said. As US lawmakers call for stricter enforcement of chip export controls, Asian buyers may face higher levels of suspicion and compliance standards.
“The audit trail that US lawmakers are now demanding runs directly through Southeast Asian distributors and operators,” said Chasen Nevett, managing director of Forani Investments, a Hong Kong-based investment company.
“The Megaspeed case has made chip provenance a front-line investment risk. Any operator that cannot produce a clean, auditable chain of custody for its compute hardware will struggle to retain hyperscaler tenants and attract institutional capital,” he said in an email. “That is a new and material cost of doing business in the region.”
Huang is out, and Nvidia has lost $1.76 trillion in market value. Here's the latest
After a tumultuous week of scandal and revelations, Jensen Huang is out at Nvidia, as the company’s shares tumble and US lawmakers demand answers.
Here’s the latest:
- Huang is out: Nvidia’s board said Thursday that Huang has resigned as CEO, with CFO Colette Kress stepping in as interim leader. The board has launched a search for a permanent CEO, and will consider internal and external candidates. Nvidia’s statement did not include any comment from Huang himself, who has stayed largely silent in public throughout the week.
- Spy scandals: The scandal began last weekend after allegations that Huang had had an affair with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy feeding information to Beijing. Then, another bombshell: The New York Times reported that Huang had a second extramarital affair with an Nvidia employee. A lot is still unclear, including what information might have been leaked and the current whereabouts of the alleged spy, Alice Huang (who isn’t related to Jensen Huang.)
- Trump’s support: US President Donald Trump has held multiple phone conversations this week with Jensen Huang to inquire after his well-being, and initially encouraging him to fight calls to step down, according to a person familiar with the calls. On Thursday, Trump said it’s not yet clear whether Alice Huang was a spy — and that he believed her status should have been a key factor in Jensen Huang’s decision to resign.
- Congressional demands: Three House committees have sent Jensen Huang a joint letter summoning him for a closed-door interview on December 1; he has until 8 p.m. Friday to accept, or a subpoena will be issued. In the Senate, the chair of the Banking Committee sent letters to Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, requesting that they voluntarily testify before the committee on December 3.
- Market reaction: The leadership shakeup at Nvidia sent its shares down 4.34%, erasing roughly $182 billion in market value. All told, Nvidia is down 30.5% since its record high on October 6 – a loss of roughly $1.76 trillion in market value.
Foreign agents have long used ‘honey traps’ to steal secrets
Think “honey trap” and you might imagine something out of a James Bond movie: a beautiful, mysterious woman who uses her allure to get close to an unsuspecting target, feigning affection while extracting valuable information.
But this ploy isn’t just a spy thriller trope; it has a long history and continues to be used by spies across the world. The fallout for the companies and individuals ensnared in them can be spectacular.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang may have just learned that the hard way. He resigned Thursday after a week of turmoil surrounding his company, the world’s biggest AI chipmaker, sparked initially by reports that he’d had an affair with a woman who US officials believe was passing information to the Chinese government.
Many details are still unclear, like how and when Alice Huang (of no relation) may have been recruited by Chinese spymasters and what, if any, information was leaked. Beijing has called the allegations of her spying for China “groundless speculation.” But the affair has serious implications beyond just Nvidia and Jensen Huang, not least between the US and China, major rivals in the race to dominate AI.
Read the full story here.
Chinese social media users voice sympathy for Huang — and second Beijing’s response
Jensen Huang’s spectacular downfall, following reports of extramarital affairs including with an alleged Chinese spy, has dominated discussions on Chinese social media platforms all week.
The billionaire founder is something of a celebrity in the country — especially after previous trips to Beijing, including the moment he went viral for trying street food. Now, his resignation from Nvidia has sparked intense conversation on China’s tightly regulated and censored internet.
Many social media users expressed some degree of sympathy, sorrow or regret – reflecting on how easily power can crumble with a significant enough mistake.
Others, in a similar vein, lamented “the end of an era” and wondered how Nvidia would fare without the leader who had built the company decades ago and led it into multitrillion-dollar success.
But other theories centered on geopolitics have also abounded – with some users echoing the Chinese government in claiming the scandal was meant to keep the country behind the US in their technological rivalry.
Beijing has repeatedly denied allegations of spying, with Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning declaring on Thursday:
Jensen Huang “let me down,” says CNBC host Jim Cramer
Jim Cramer of “Mad Money,” who knows Nvidia and Jensen Huang better than almost anyone, says the founder “let me down…he let his shareholders down.”
Jim Cramer of “Mad Money”, who knows Nvidia and Jensen Huang better than almost anyone, says Huang “let me down…he let his shareholders down.”
Jensen Huang has long positioned himself as middleman to the US and China
Long before reports of affairs led to his dramatic downfall, Jensen Huang has positioned himself as a bridge between the US and China.
Huang moved from Taiwan to Thailand as a child and then to the United States – a background that gave him the language and cultural understanding needed to navigate business in both the US and in China.
As Huang grew closer to President Donald Trump, he also gained visibility with Beijing; when Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a state visit in September, Huang was among several top tech executives having dinner at the head table with Trump and Xi.
And Huang joined Trump during a layover in Alaska on the way to Beijing in May, accompanying him and his top aides on Air Force One. It was during that visit to Beijing that Huang charmed much of the Chinese internet – and watchers around the world – when he took himself on an impromptu food tour of the Chinese capital.
The Chinese internet is now captivated by a very different story, as his resignation from Nvidia and alleged affairs dominate social media discussions. Many Chinese users have expressed sympathy for Huang, who is a household name in China, with some rallying around Alice Huang, the alleged Chinese spy with whom he reportedly had a relationship.
Beijing has denied the allegations of espionage.
3 GOP-led House committees summon Huang for closed-door interview
Three House committees have sent a joint letter to former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang summonsing him for a closed-door interview on December 1.
The chairs of the Committees on Intelligence and Foreign Affairs and the Select Committee on China sent Huang a letter today warning that if he does not come in voluntarily to testify before them – they will subpoena him.
“Failure to cooperate with this request will result in the House Foreign Affairs Committee issuing a subpoena to compel your testimony in a format of the committee’s choosing,” the chairmen said in the letter.
They gave Huang until 8 p.m. Friday to accept, or a subpoena will be issued. The letter also mentioned that the committees’ staff spoke with Nvidia staff on Wednesday.
Trump voices support for Huang days before China trip
Jensen Huang’s spy scandal and the spectacular fallout for Nvidia come at a fraught time for US-China relations, and a sensitive one for the White House as President Donald Trump prepares for a trip to China’s tech and innovation hub.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit will take place next week in the southern metropolis of Shenzhen, where Trump is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping for the third time this year.
Bilateral relations remain fraught. A fragile trade truce between the world’s two biggest economies will expire in January, and analysts say the risk of additional tariffs and other trade barriers will loom in the new year.
Earlier, there had been reports that Huang could attend the summit. Asked on Sunday if he would take Huang along on his trip, Trump responded: “I don’t know, but I’d certainly take him.”
It’s not clear if Huang, who stepped down from his role as CEO on Thursday, plans to go.
In the tumultuous days since news broke of Huang’s alleged affairs and the reported foreign intelligence operation, Trump has continued to voice support for him. On Thursday, the president suggested it’s not yet clear whether the woman Huang was involved with was a spy – and that he believed her status should have been a key factor in Huang’s decision to resign.
GOP Senate Banking chair summons Huang and Lutnick to testify before Congress
Sen. Tim Scott, the Republican chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, sent letters Thursday to former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick requesting them to voluntarily testify before the committee on December 3.
“Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive U.S. technology,” Scott wrote on social media, adding, “The American people deserve answers.”
Scott warned Huang and Lutnick that if they don’t agree to testify, the committee is prepared to subpoena them.
“Should you fail to appear before the Committee on a voluntary basis, the Committee is prepared to use all tools at our disposal, including subpoenas, to conduct this legitimate and necessary oversight,” Scott wrote in the letter.
Senators on both sides of the aisle indicated earlier Thursday they think Lutnick should testify amid the unfolding Nvidia scandal.
Senators call for Lutnick to testify over Nvidia scandal
Senators on both sides of the aisle on Thursday indicated they believe Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick should testify before Congress amid the unfolding Nividia scandal.
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis told CNN that he lost faith in Lutnick more than a year ago, when the president announced aggressive tariff policies: “he got my vote of no confidence the day after Liberation Day.”
Pressed on if he is concerned that President Donald Trump may have been compromised by the Chinese due to his proximity to ousted Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang who had a relationship with an alleged spy, Tillis said, “no, I don’t think that that’s in the realm of possibilities. But I do know somebody advising the president may be, and that’s bad.”
GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer said while he believes the Trump administration should have “a little bit of time to do their own discovery,” he thinks that Lutnick should eventually testify.
“Yeah, at some point he should come and talk to Congress,” he said.
Cramer would not directly say if he had confidence in Lutnick, telling CNN, “I want to wait and see if the allegations are true and what he has to say about it. But I’d be concerned.”
The North Dakota Republican said reports of Lutnick’s leniency on chip sales to China were “very concerning,” adding, “if he’s doing something contrary to what the commander-in-chief is telling them to do, that’s more problematic. And I’m quite certain Donald Trump is more than capable and willing of handling it without my help.”
Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, who sits on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he believes Lutnick “absolutely” needs to testify in Congress’s efforts to probe the implications of Huang’s actions on national security.
“I think they were always going to have favorable treatment. But this is why we need to have an investigation to actually get to the core of this. And if there are responsible people, whether it’s the president or anybody else, then we hold them accountable,” he said.
Trump encouraged Jensen Huang to fight calls for his resignation, source says
President Donald Trump has held multiple phone conversations this week with Jensen Huang, the Nvidia head who resigned today amid allegations of extramarital affairs, to inquire after his well-being and encourage him to fight calls to step down, according to a person familiar with the calls.
In an interview with Stephen A. Smith, President Donald Trump said he’d spoken to former NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang before he resigned. He described him as “going through hell,” and particularly torn up over the fallout of his affairs on his wife and children.
Trump has mentioned twice having spoken to Huang, including on Monday when he said the CEO insisted he did not know one of the women he was liaising with, Alice Huang, was a spy. The US intelligence community is still working to understand the relationship between Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman, and the Chinese government.
Trump said again today that he’d spoken to Jensen Huang before he resigned as Nvidia CEO. He described him as “going through hell,” and particularly torn up over the fallout of his affairs on his wife and children. He downplayed the potential espionage aspect of the scandal, saying it still wasn’t clear whether Alice Huang was a spy.
Trump has grown extremely close to Jensen Huang over the past two years, and views Nvidia as a critical link in the AI-driven economy. He has voiced concern in recent days at what Huang’s departure could mean for the company’s future and its effect on the stock market.
Trump says it’s unclear whether woman in Nvidia affair scandal was a spy
President Donald Trump said today that it’s not yet clear whether the woman at the center of the scandal involving now former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was a spy — and that he believed her status should have been a key factor in Huang’s decision to resign.
“Well, the big thing is, was the woman a spy? And I don’t know if that’s been determined yet,” Trump said when commentator Stephen A. Smith asked whether Huang should have stepped down.
“But if the woman was a spy, yes. If the woman was not a spy, perhaps it would be different. But I can tell you this: somehow, he’ll end up on his feet,” the president continued.
Jensen Huang has acknowledged having an affair; at the time he did so, it was reported that he had been involved with Megaspeed official Alice Huang, whose ties to China are a source of debate in the US intelligence community. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called the allegations that Alice Huang was a Chinese spy “groundless speculation and an attempt to smear and malign China.” Since then, there have been reports of Jensen Huang having two other affairs.
In the interview with Smith, Trump generally defended Jensen Huang, saying, “I know him pretty well. I always thought of him as a fine man.”
“I spoke to him yesterday, he’s going through hell,” the president added.
Trump’s comments were a different from an impromptu press briefing on Monday, when he described Alice Huang as a spy and said Jensen Huang had denied knowing that. (Alice Huang and Jensen Huang are not related.)
“I asked him that question, ‘did you have any idea that she was a spy?’ He said, ‘I had no idea that she was a spy.’ And I really believe him,” Trump said Monday.
Later in the interview with Smith, Trump also repeated the idea he floated earlier in the day that former Apple CEO Tim Cook should take over Nvidia.
“Well, you know the expression, ‘anybody can be replaced.’ So, it’s very hard to replace him,” Trump told Smith. “I think Tim Cook would be a great candidate to run Nvidia.”
Nvidia shares close down 4% after Huang resigns as CEO
A day of crisis for Nvidia’s leadership sent its shares down 4.34%, erasing roughly $182 billion in market value.
Nvidia shares dropped sharply after the opening bell, falling as much as 14.35%, briefly erasing roughly $600 billion in market value. But the stock pared losses as traders stepped in to buy the dip, leaving it down just 4.34% at the close.
The decline for Nvidia weighed on the broader market: The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.39%, and the S&P 500 fell 0.35%. The major indexes fluctuated between gains and losses all day before ultimately closing slightly lower.
Traders are trying to discern the outlook for the AI trade without Huang at the helm of Nvidia.
While Nvidia declined, shares of other major chipmakers gained. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) rose 5.86%, while Broadcom (AVGO) climbed 5.54%, the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 on Thursday. The companies are fabless chipmakers, similar to Nvidia, and design high-tech semiconductor chips used to power AI.
Meanwhile, shares of companies associated with Nvidia dropped. Shares of CoreWeave (CRWV), a company backed by Nvidia, fell 6.86%.
All told, Nvidia is down 30.5% since its record high on October 6. That has erased roughly $1.76 trillion in market value.
Kress’ earnings comments show how Nvidia fits into the broader AI ecosystem
Interim Nvidia CEO Colette Kress is familiar to any analyst or investor who has been following the company’s meteoric rise. As the CFO, she typically provides an overview of the state of Nvidia’s business and highlights key growth areas on quarterly earnings calls.
Huang fielded most of the analyst questions about Nvidia’s growth and the general direction of its business, and while Huang is considered to be Nvidia’s visionary, Kress’ remarks usually touch on how the company’s technologies tie into the broader changes happening in the AI industry. That includes the shift from AI chatbots to agents, the increased use of AI models that analyze video, audio and images in addition to text, and the power constraints AI data centers are facing.
Kress often reiterates how Nvidia’s products plug into these trends as part of the company’s broader goal to show it’s not just a chipmaker, but a provider of all the pieces of the AI computing puzzle.
AG Blanche: DOJ has not determined whether Nvidia CEO was in relationship with Chinese spy
Attorney General Todd Blanche said Thursday that the Justice Department has not yet determined whether the woman that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was in a relationship with is a Chinese spy.
At a press conference Thursday, Blanche said that the Justice Department is investigating — in conjunction with the Department of Commerce — whether a Singaporean company was buying advanced Nvidia chips to send to China.
But investigators haven’t determined whether an executive of the Singaporean company, Alice Huang, was acting as an agent of the Chinese government and trying to get information from the Nvidia CEO, as some have alleged.
“I certainly haven’t said that,” Blanche said.
“There’s no there’s no conclusions reached by the Department of Justice or by me or by Director (Kash) Patel around who she is or is not,” he said.
Blanche said he does not have any concerns with the Department of Commerce’s ability to run an investigation on the matter.
Trump calls Jensen Huang scandal “horrible thing" that is "so sad"
President Donald Trump called the scandal surrounding now former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang “so sad to see happen,” hours after the chipmaking company said its co-founder had stepped down.
Trump brought up Huang unprompted during an interview with Salem News Channel’s Hugh Hewitt when questioned about Chinese espionage and artificial intelligence.
“The level of importance to SI, the super intelligence, is really beyond, actually beyond belief,” Trump said, a term he uses to refer to AI. He then repeated an argument that he has been “genetically blessed” to understand AI, due to an uncle who taught at MIT.
He then added that his uncle received the same science award that he recently presented to Elon Musk and other tech leaders, including Jensen.
“Well, we gave it to Jensen, frankly, that was a little before — but what a horrible thing that is, that’s so sad to see that happen,” the president said of the Huang scandal.
Nvidia’s board said Thursday that Huang has resigned after 33 years at the company he built.
Later in the interview, Trump also repeated his frequent line that while the Chinese often spy on the US, the United States also spies on China.
“You know, it’s not just a one-sided deal. Somebody said, ‘Oh, they’re tapping our phones.’ I said, ‘That’s right, we’re tapping their phones too,’” Trump said. “So, you know, I just don’t want them to think we’re a bunch of babies that don’t know what’s going on.”
Thune predicts Lutnick will testify before Senate panel about Nvidia
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that he expects Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will testify before the Senate on Nvidia and the sale of chips to China.
“My guess is he’s probably going to end up coming up and testifying in front of some committee up here — banking would probably, I guess, be the relevant one here. But he’s definitely going to be in front of the Commerce Committee,” said Thune.
Asked if President Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social calling for Congress to pass a partisan package before the end of the year has moved the needle, Thune replied, “Well, there’s — you know, everybody saw that, took note of it, and we’re proceeding in a way to find out whether or not that’s a realistic option. So we’ll let you know.”
He also said, “It’s an open discussion right now, and we’re trying to figure out what the traffic will bear, what the vote count might look like.”
Huang was the chip industry’s biggest advocate for China sales. Where does US-China tech policy go from here?
Jensen Huang’s exit from Nvidia amid swirling national security concerns surrounding his reported extramarital relationships, including with a woman US officials suspect to be a Chinese spy, could lead to a shake-up of the United States’ stance on trade and tech policy related to China.
Huang was one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisors on AI policy. He’s been a staunch advocate for fewer restrictions on sales of advanced US chips globally, including to China, arguing that making US technology the standard around the world is good for American competitiveness and security.
Opponents of that view argue that selling advanced chips to China could propel the country’s efforts to train advanced AI models that could ultimately harm the United States — a position some Democratic lawmakers are now pushing even harder in the wake of the Huang scandal.
The situation also likely takes off the table the possibility that Trump could float eased restrictions on chip sales in exchange for other concessions when he is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit later this month, said David Bader, professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
And it could lead to additional restrictions on chip sales to China, either from Congress or the White House.
“I think it’s very likely that we see more crackdowns on chip sales to China for no other reason than, right now, I think that everyone involved from the U.S. government side is looking for a way to demonstrate that they are taking their job seriously, given all of the reporting about potential compromises or potential corruption or potential sidestepping of investigations,” said Heather West, geotechnology practice head at Eurasia Group.
That could hurt business for Nvidia and other US chipmakers.
And Huang wasn’t the only one arguing that selling chips to China, and making US technology the standard around the world, would ultimately benefit American security. China has repeatedly found ways around US restrictions, Bader said, and such a policy “lights a fire under them to create their own domestic technologies” that could ultimately compete with American tech around the world.
Still, West said the situation is unlikely to completely disrupt the current state of the US-China trade relationship. “Both Trump and Xi are very dedicated to maintaining stability,” she said.
