Jensen Huang has resigned as Chief Executive Officer of United States-based technology giant Nvidia following revelations about alleged extramarital affairs, including one involving a woman accused of spying for China.
The company announced his departure on Thursday, bringing an end to his 33-year leadership of the artificial intelligence chipmaker he co-founded in 1993.
Huang, 63, has also relinquished his seat on the company’s board, although Nvidia did not disclose the specific reason for his resignation.
The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Colette Kress, has been appointed interim CEO pending the selection of a substantive replacement.
The development comes amid growing controversy surrounding reports that Huang had relationships with two women, one of whom was allegedly linked to China’s Ministry of State Security.
US intelligence officials reportedly circulated a memo alleging that Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed, was an intelligence asset for China.
Beijing has, however, rejected the spying allegations.
Nvidia’s board had earlier announced an investigation into reports that its founder was the target of what it described as a “foreign intelligence effort”, while expressing confidence in his leadership at the time.
However, the controversy deepened on Wednesday after The New York Times reported a second alleged relationship involving Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s Vice President of Healthcare.
The newspaper cited video evidence and accounts from witnesses who reportedly saw the pair displaying affection at a hotel in San Jose, California.
Nvidia’s code of conduct requires employees to avoid conflicts of interest and specifically identifies personal relationships as a potential source of such conflicts.
Meanwhile, the controversy has triggered investor concerns, with shareholders reportedly filing a class-action lawsuit against Huang and the company over alleged failure to disclose information about the relationships.
The company’s shares fell by more than 10 per cent in premarket trading on Thursday, adding to a decline of about 25 per cent from their record high in early October.
Following Huang’s departure, Nvidia’s board appointed former Synopsys Chief Executive, Harvey Jones, as its first-ever chairman.
Jones expressed confidence in the company’s interim leadership, saying, “The Board has full confidence in Colette and the leadership team, and we expect the company’s operations, customer commitments and product roadmap to continue without interruption.”
Kress also pledged to sustain the company’s growth, saying she was committed to “building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years.”
Huang, who has been married to his wife, Lori, for more than four decades, had previously avoided identifying a potential successor whenever questions about his eventual departure arose.
Kress joined Nvidia as Chief Financial Officer in 2013, having previously held finance positions at major technology companies, including Cisco and Microsoft.
Founded in 1993, Nvidia has become one of the world’s most valuable companies, with its graphics processing units (GPUs) playing a central role in the development of artificial intelligence systems.
The company’s chips are largely manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker.
Despite the leadership change, Nvidia said it would release its quarterly financial results as scheduled on November 17.
