Jensen Huang Resigns as Nvidia CEO Amid Chinese Spy Allegations

Jensen Huang has resigned as chief executive of Nvidia, four days after he admitted in an email to employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife. News reports have linked him to a woman that U.S. officials reportedly believe is a Chinese spy.

Nvidia’s board accepted the resignation on Wednesday, Nov. 11, and the company confirmed it in an SEC filing on Thursday, Nov. 12. Chief financial officer Colette Kress is interim CEO while she keeps her CFO duties. Board member Harvey C. Jones becomes the company’s first chair, and the board is expected to search for a permanent successor. Nvidia shares fell more than 11 percent in premarket trading on Thursday, and the company has lost more than $300 billion in market value since Friday.

What Huang admitted

In a Nov. 8 letter to staff, Huang wrote, “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children.” He added, “There is no excuse for what I did.” He did not name the woman. He said the board had started an independent investigation into national security concerns raised in news reports, and that he supported it and would cooperate fully.

What is reported but not confirmed

The New York Times reported on Oct. 29 that Huang had a close relationship with an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore firm reported to be under U.S. scrutiny over suspected diversion of Nvidia chips to China. Nvidia answered at the time that Huang’s dealings with her were “not unusual or unexpected.” The Times later reported a memo warning that she was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security. That is the belief of U.S. officials, as reported. It is not an established fact, and no findings from Nvidia’s investigation have been made public.

Singapore’s government has said something different. Its Ministry of Home Affairs stated on Nov. 12 that the executive was not investigated for espionage. Singapore police looked into Megaspeed over suspected false declarations on server purchases. They found insufficient evidence that she had committed an offense, gave her a stern warning for providing inaccurate information, and barred her from re-entering Singapore. Four individuals and four companies in the wider case have been charged.

On Nov. 11, the Times also reported that Huang had an affair with a senior Nvidia executive who reports to him. The Times cited five people who worked at Nvidia. Nvidia, Huang and the executive have not confirmed it, so this draft does not name her. The board was also reported to be preparing to remove him that day, before the resignation was announced.

A pattern U.S. officials have warned about

U.S. counterintelligence officials have warned for years that China’s government looks for access wherever it can find it. A 2019 FBI document on the risk to academia says Beijing “takes advantage of every opportunity,” from academic collaboration to economic espionage, and that some Chinese students and professors may serve as collectors “wittingly or unwittingly.”

That is a general warning about a pattern. It is not evidence about any one person, and nothing in the public record yet shows that the pattern applies here.

Why it matters beyond one marriage

Nvidia makes the chips behind the AI boom, and the question of which countries get them is a national security issue. When the head of that company is reported to have been close to someone U.S. officials suspect of working for China, his private life becomes a governance question. The board now has to tell investors and the public what its investigation finds, and whether anything reached Nvidia’s chip business.

Facts in this story were still changing as of the morning of Nov. 12.

Sources

·       A Message to Our Company, Nvidia Newsroom

·       The unfolding Jensen Huang scandal: a timeline, TechCrunch

·       Singapore Investigations into Megaspeed International Pte Ltd, Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs

·       China: The Risk to Academia, FBI