Insiders have revealed the final hours of Jensen Huang's reign as Nvidia CEO, as the tech tycoon's dramatic fall from grace sends shockwaves through global markets.
Huang resigned from his position as Nvidia launched an internal investigation into his extramarital affairs, including one with a woman suspected of having links to Chinese intelligence.
Huang, who has been married to his wife Lori for over 40 years, admitted Sunday to an affair, reportedly with Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed.
And on Wednesday, The New York Times reported a second affair, citing a video of Huang being affectionate with Nvidia's vice president of health care, Kimberly Powell.
The scandal has wiped $550bn off Nvidia's market valuation, as it raises national security fears and leaves the AI industry in uncharted waters.
According to insiders cited by Bloomberg, Huang's morale had plummeted over the past week.
In the days leading up to his resignation on Wednesday, he was emotionally drained, repeatedly using phrases such as 'whatever' and 'I don't care'.
Those who have spoken to him in recent days said he had taken a very self-critical tone, reportedly describing himself as a 'piece of sh**.'
Huang resigned from his position as Nvidia faces an internal investigation into his extramarital affairs
Huang has now been summoned to testify before a Senate committee about his relationship with the alleged Chinese spy.
Republican Senator Tim Scott called the former CEO to testify before the Banking Committee, which he chairs.
'Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology,' Scott wrote Thursday on X, adding, 'The American people deserve answers.'
According to Bloomberg, Huang's ties to Alice Huang initially attracted little attention from Nvidia's board of directors, until it emerged that their relationship was romantic.
The revelation prompted the board to launch an internal investigation. On Sunday, Huang emailed employees, acknowledging the affair, apologising to his family and vowing to 'cooperate fully' with the probe.
Insiders say the scandal had become a distraction for the famously meticulous tycoon, increasingly pulling his attention away from his duties at Nvidia.
He had previously been known to respond to emails from his 60 executives at all hours of the day and night. But in recent days, his response times had begun to lengthen.
On Wednesday evening, following reports of a second alleged affair with Kimberly Powell, the board convened a meeting with Huang that continued late into the night.
The following day, he resigned, and the board announced that Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress would take over as interim CEO.
'I believe deeply in this company and in its future,' Kress wrote in an email to employees.
'More than anything, I believe in each of you, in our customers and partners and in the vital role we play every day in the global economy. The Board, staff and I recognise that this has been an extraordinarily difficult period and I want you to know how grateful we are for your resilience, professionalism and continued dedication. Thank you.'
Things took an even bigger turn when, just hours after Huang's resignation, reports came in of a third alleged affair – an 'intimate relationship' with a second, so-far-unnamed Nvidia employee.
One senior Trump official offered the Daily Mail a grim forecast of the fallout from Huang's downfall: 'The world economy is f****d.'
Nvidia hit gold when the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2022 sparked a global rush to develop AI, with its processors - once designed for video game graphics - becoming a crucial ingredient to train and run the technology.
Huang is Nvidia's largest individual shareholder, with a stake of about 3.6 percent, according to the company.
The Taiwanese-born businessman was a close informal adviser to President Donald Trump on AI, and had spent years lobbying against curbs on sales of advanced AI chips to China for national security reasons.
Huang has admitted to having an affair with Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang, and the two were photographed together on multiple occasions beginning in 2024
Powell (pictured) and Huang were reportedly captured on video being affectionate at a hotel in San Jose, California, during the Nvidia conference in March, according to sources
Trump, who had stood by Huang throughout the scandal, said former Apple boss Tim Cook should take over.
'A Legend replaces a Legend!' Trump said on his Truth Social network, adding that Cook had made Apple 'one of the great companies of the world at a fairly short range'.
When asked Thursday if Jensen should have stepped down, Trump said it would depend.
'If the woman was a spy, yes. If the woman was not a spy, perhaps it would be different,' Trump said in an interview.
But Trump said he was confident that Huang will 'end up on his feet,' adding: 'I spoke to him yesterday. He's going through hell. What he feels most badly about is his wife and family.'
At the heart of the spy allegations is the race between the United States and China for supremacy in an industry widely seen as the next industrial revolution.