Nvidia CEO steps down amid spy scandal and market-value plunge

Nvidia has said its chief executive, Jensen Huang, has stepped down after allegations linking him to a suspected Chinese spy and an executive affair. The move comes as the company faces intense scrutiny over its business ties in Southeast Asia and concerns about access to advanced chips. Nvidia also said it has appointed Colette Kress, its chief financial officer and executive vice president, as interim chief executive.

The company has lost more than $600bn in market value this week, according to the supplied report, after its shares fell sharply in pre-market trading. The board met on Wednesday night to discuss Huang's future, and the company said it had hired a law firm to investigate the matter. The allegations have also triggered scrutiny from the FBI and the United States Congress, while Nvidia is facing a shareholder class-action lawsuit.

The reported case centres on Alice Huang, described in the supplied material as a former executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed and an alleged Chinese intelligence asset. Megaspeed, founded in 2023, has itself been investigated over whether it helped Chinese companies access a $4.8bn stock of Nvidia chips. The report says the affair has raised national security concerns in the United States, where restrictions on chip sales to China are intended to limit the risk of advanced technology being used by the Chinese military, intelligence agencies or companies.

The episode matters because Nvidia sits at the centre of the global artificial intelligence boom and supplies most of the chips powering advanced AI systems. That has made the company not only a market leader but also a strategic actor in the wider debate over technology exports, national security and competition with China. Huang, who is 63, is described in the report as a co-founder and a powerful figure in the AI industry, with a significant personal stake in the company.

The supplied material says Huang has been a close ally of United States President Donald Trump and has pushed for looser restrictions on chip exports to China. It also says Trump was told by Huang that he had "absolutely no idea" he was in a relationship with an intelligence operative. The report adds that Nvidia's stock has fallen to a 14-year low, underscoring the scale of the market reaction to the scandal.

What remains unclear is how long the leadership change will last and what the investigations will conclude. It is also not yet clear whether the shareholder lawsuit or any regulatory action will lead to further changes at the company. Investors and policymakers will be watching for any statement from Nvidia's board, as well as any findings from the FBI, Congress or the company's legal review.

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