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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang steps down amid spy scandal and market loss

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In short

Nvidia appointed Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO on Thursday following a Wednesday night board meeting to arrange the leadership transition. The departure was precipitated by national security concerns tied to Megaspeed, a regional partner holding a $4.8 billion stockpile of advanced chips, as well as an extramarital relationship with a subordinate vice president. Investigations have been launched by the FBI, the U.S. Congress, and Nvidia, while shareholders have filed a class-action lawsuit.

Key points

  • Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has taken over as interim CEO to steer the chipmake…: Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has taken over as interim CEO to steer the chipmaker through the turmoil.
  • Scrutiny focuses on Megaspeed and whether Chinese entities accessed its $4.8 billion stoc…: Scrutiny focuses on Megaspeed and whether Chinese entities accessed its $4.8 billion stockpile of restricted Nvidia chips.
  • The company faces compounded legal and operational risks from shareholder class-action la…: The company faces compounded legal and operational risks from shareholder class-action lawsuits and multiple federal inquiries.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has stepped down from the company following his reported affairs with a suspected Chinese spy as well as a Nvidia executive.

The $4.2 trillion tech giant has lost more than $600bn in market value this week as Huang’s scandals rocked the company, which supplies most of the chips powering advanced AI technology. The stock slid more than 10 percent in pre-market trading on Thursday.

The company appointed Colette Kress, Nvidia’s chief financial officer and executive vice president, as interim CEO on Thursday.

Nvidia’s board met on Wednesday night to discuss ousting Huang, whose relationship with the alleged Chinese spy triggered investigations by the FBI, the United States Congress and the California-based tech giant. Nvidia is also facing a shareholder class-action lawsuit.

The alleged Chinese intelligence asset, Alice Huang, is a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed, Nvidia’s primary business partner in southeast Asia. Founded in 2023, Megaspeed has been investigated over whether it helped Chinese companies access its $4.8bn stock of powerful Nvidia chips.

The affair has raised national security concerns in the US, which restricts chip…

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