Shares plunge 10% in premarket trading as board names its first-ever chairman
Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang resigned Thursday after revelations that his extramarital affairs raised national security concerns. The company named Colette Kress, its executive vice president and chief financial officer, as interim chief executive, and its board of directors appointed Harvey C. Jones, an entrepreneur and venture investor, as Nvidia’s first-ever chairman. Shares of Nvidia, one of the largest companies in the world, plunged 10% in premarket trading Thursday.
Huang had faced growing calls to resign after his affair with an alleged Chinese spy became public. Late Wednesday, media reports said Huang also had an extramarital affair with an Nvidia employee who reports to him. The New York Times reported that second affair Wednesday. The Associated Press said it could not independently confirm the reports.
The board had gathered to discuss Huang’s future after revelations that he was having an affair with a former Megaspeed executive suspected of being a Chinese government agent.
The Times reported that the woman in that affair is Alice Huang, who also goes by the name Huang Le, and that she was a top executive at Megaspeed International, a Singapore-headquartered company that prominently touts a partnership with Nvidia on its website. Jensen Huang and Alice Huang are not related. Last month, the Times reported that U.S. intelligence agencies discovered the Nvidia chief executive had developed a close relationship with Alice Huang and determined she was feeding information directly to Beijing. On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the FBI was investigating.
Nvidia has said it had “no reason to believe” that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, but that its inquiry would examine all available information.
In its first statement since the scandal broke, Megaspeed International said Thursday that it takes its obligation to comply with U.S. export control laws “extremely seriously.” The statement was signed by the company’s chairman and CEO, Tan Yong Pong, who also goes by James Tan. “Megaspeed is committed to working constructively and transparently with the U.S. government,” the statement said.
The company said it has cooperated with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which handles enforcement of national security restrictions on exports of technology, and that it was ready to “cooperate fully with any other relevant U.S. government authority.” Megaspeed said it has hired a U.S. law firm to conduct a “comprehensive census” of its computer chips and to verify its export controls. “Megaspeed welcomes appropriate government scrutiny and is committed to demonstrating through concrete actions that it operates responsibly, transparently, and in accordance with applicable U.S. laws,” the statement said.
The scrutiny of Megaspeed’s chip business predates the affair revelations. The company faced claims last year that it was illicitly shipping advanced Nvidia computer chips into China; Megaspeed said in December there was “no evidence” of such exports. Singapore has said it is investigating the allegations.
Megaspeed’s finances have drawn attention as well. Its total assets soared roughly 90-fold from late 2023 to 2024, to almost US$3 billion, according to Singapore corporate records. Revenue surged to over US$294 million in 2024 from none the year before.
China has denied that it engaged in an attempt to ensnare Huang, who heads one of the world’s most valuable companies. Nvidia has become a leader in making the chips that power artificial intelligence, and Huang had lobbied Washington to loosen limits on sales of Nvidia chips to China. In January, he won Trump’s approval for selling the company’s H200 chips to China.
Details about Huang’s affair with the former Megaspeed executive remain unclear.