Nvidia's board forced out CEO Jensen Huang Thursday after reports of affairs with a suspected Chinese spy and a company subordinate — and President Trump immediately floated Apple's Tim Cook to run the $4 trillion chip giant that underpins the American AI economy and sits in every retirement portfolio in the country.
Nvidia accounts for roughly 6 percent of the S&P 500, second only to Apple. When Huang's exit hit the tape, shares plunged 13 percent at the open before settling down 7 percent — wiping more than $320 billion off the company's value in a single session, according to The Guardian. For anyone with a 401(k), that's real money vaporized because one man couldn't keep his personal conduct separate from a company critical to U.S. national security.
The board installed CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO. Kress, 59, has been Nvidia's finance chief since 2013 and previously spent 13 years at Microsoft. Board chair Harvey Jones — newly elevated to a first-ever chair role — said the board has "full confidence" in Kress, per the New York Post. Whether a career finance officer can steer the linchpin of the AI arms race through a crisis of this magnitude is an open question.
The scandal has two tracks. First: Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, a Singapore-based datacentre executive at Megaspeed — the largest buyer of Nvidia chips in Southeast Asia — whom U.S. intelligence suspects of working for Beijing. Breitbart reported that investigators who reviewed classified intelligence concluded Alice Huang dined with the AI kingpin while secretly funneling information to the Chinese government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw drafting of a classified memo warning senior Trump officials about Huang's ties. The FBI is now investigating. Three House committees have requested Huang appear for a closed-door briefing, according to The Post Millennial.
The China angle matters because Huang had been lobbying the Trump administration to loosen restrictions on Nvidia's chip sales to China — even as he was allegedly cavorting with a woman intelligence agencies link to Beijing.
Second: The New York Times reported Wednesday that Huang had a separate affair with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to him. The Post Millennial reported that a bystander captured video of the pair behaving affectionately at a San Jose hotel during a company conference — and Huang's security team confronted the individual and offered a nondisclosure agreement. Powell has been approached for comment, The Guardian noted.
The board had initially stood by Huang. As recently as Sunday, Nvidia denied anything unusual about the Alice Huang relationship. The company even directed Huang to remain at the helm while its outside law firm, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, conducted an investigation. Breitbart noted the board gave him a vote of confidence just three days before reversing course. It took the second affair — a direct violation of company code and an abuse of power over a subordinate — to force action.
Trump, for his part, posted on Truth Social: "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. A Legend replaces a Legend!" The president had previously defended Huang, saying he believed investigators would find nothing criminal.
The Nvidia board's statement on Huang's departure, per The Guardian, thanked him for "immeasurable contributions" and made zero mention of the spying scandal or personal conduct that triggered the crisis. Standard corporate cleanup — protect the brand, memory-hole the breach.
The open question: whether a company this central to American technological supremacy can afford a caretaker CEO while China races to close the AI gap — and whether the board that dragged its feet for weeks is competent to pick the next leader.
