Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns in the wake of multiple controversies

Jensen Huang was one of Nvidia’s three founders in 1993, and has guided the company to world domination in the GPU market over the last 33 years. It’s made him one of the richest people in the world, and one of the most powerful business leaders too. Today he resigned as CEO, in the wake of multiple controversies involving international espionage and fraternization.

According to the press release issued by the company, Huang resigned voluntarily. The interim CEO will be Colette Kress, a 10-year Nvidia veteran currently serving as an executive vice president and chief financial officer.

The press release makes no mention of Huang’s controversies or what role he might play in the continuing company. “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.”

Huang still owns more that 3% of Nvidia’s stock, valued at approximately 150 billion US dollars before trading today. Nvidia’s stock began a precipitous tumble when the initial news of Huang’s issues broke, from a high of just under $207 to a bit over $150 in pre-market trading today. It’s now gaining slightly on the news of Huang’s resignation.

After years of breakaway success for Nvidia fueling the crypto boom and AI compute bubble, Huang became a celebrity unto himself. He made appearances with world leaders and created his own Jobs-esque persona, with Nvidia presentations delivered in his signature designer leather jackets. As Nvidia became the most valuable corporation on the planet by some measures, Huang’s profile rose to rival business leaders like Elon Musk and Bill Gates.

His downfall began less than two weeks ago, with a New York Times investigation revealing an extramarital affair with a Chinese technology executive of Singapore-based Megaspeed. This relationship called Nvidia’s business impartiality into question, with extra intrigue added by an ongoing trade war between the US and China. Megaspeed is suspected of evading US export bans of high-powered GPU technology to China. Nvidia’s board has said that it has “no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised,” but external investigations are only just beginning.

Huang evenutally admitted to the affair, and claimed he was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. Yesterday Huang was accused of a second affair with an Nvidia executive and subordinate. This appears to have been too much for Nvidia’s board, despite its previous vote of confidence.

Even with a very public blow to its image and an apparent slowdown in the AI bubble, Nvidia remains the prominent player in the hardware side of AI, “selling shovels in the gold rush.” With production capacity heavily favoring industrial customers over regular consumers, the PC gaming market has felt the pinch, as prices on GPUs from Nvidia and others have risen along with RAM and storage. Under a new CEO, and possibly a new direction, Nvidia’s place in the future of personal computing looks a lot murkier than it did just a year ago.