Jensen Huang, the former chief executive officer of Nvidia, abruptly resigned on Thursday as the company lost $550 billion in market value over five days. Huang has been called to testify before a Senate committee next month over an alleged affair with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy.
Senator Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, sent letters to Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday. He requested that Huang voluntarily testify on 3 December and warned that the committee could issue a subpoena. Lutnick has also been called before the Senate Banking Committee in December, and a spokesperson for the Department of Commerce told American media that Lutnick had "proactively" agreed to appear before the panel. Lutnick is under scrutiny over the export of sensitive Nvidia AI chips to China, and officials in President Donald Trump's administration told American media that the Commerce Secretary had delayed efforts to tighten export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China.
Three House committees sent a letter to Huang, calling him for a closed-door interview on 1 December. Huang admitted on Sunday that he had been "unfaithful" to his wife. He is alleged to have had an affair with suspected Chinese spy Alice Huang, who worked as a director at Singapore-based firm Megaspeed. According to the New York Times, Alice Huang is suspected of being an intelligence asset for China, although Beijing has rejected the allegation as slander. Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Thursday that the Department of Justice had not yet reached a conclusion on whether Alice Huang spied for Beijing. It was revealed on Wednesday that Huang also had another relationship, with long-time Nvidia director Kimberly Powell, who reported directly to him within the company.
Nvidia stated that there is no reason to believe that national security or Nvidia's secrets have been compromised, and promised that its independent investigation would consider all available information. The company launched an inquiry into whether its chief executive officer had been a "target of foreign intelligence activity". Nvidia officials declined to comment on Wednesday, and Huang's personal representative declined to comment on Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress was appointed interim chief executive officer on Thursday, and Nvidia is seeking a permanent replacement for Huang.
Nvidia's share price drop this week is its largest five-day decline since the company went public 27 years ago. Nvidia's market value had risen by more than 470 per cent over the past five years, but is now down 31 per cent and accounts for about 7 per cent of the S&P 500 index. Huang has been the public face of Nvidia since 1993, has been married to Lori Huang for 40 years, and both of their children are also directors at the company.
