Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned Thursday after an internal investigation into his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy, the company announced.
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while Nvidia searches for a permanent successor, the company said, according to Reuters. Nvidia also named former Synopsys CEO and board member Harvey Jones as its first-ever board chairman. Huang will leave the company's board as well.
The probe, which is being overseen by outside independent counsel and a committee of independent directors, followed a media report that Huang had a close relationship with a Chinese businesswoman who allegedly passed information to Beijing.
Huang, in a statement on Nov. 8, apologized for being unfaithful to his wife. He did not elaborate on the relationship.
NVIDIA CEO JENSEN HUANG APOLOGIZES AS FIRM PROBES AFFAIR WITH ALLEGED SPY
"My actions hurt her and our children," he said. "There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry."
China has rejected allegations of a spying operation targeting the Nvidia CEO, dismissing reports of a suspected Chinese intelligence plot as a smear campaign against Beijing.
CHINA DENIES SPY PLOT TARGETING NVIDIA CEO JENSEN HUANG, CALLS ALLEGATIONS ‘SMEAR’
Nvidia has grown to become the second-largest publicly traded U.S. company by market cap on the strength of its dominance of the AI chip market. Estimates suggest Nvidia's market share in the highly sought-after AI chips is at least 80%, with demand for the semiconductors used to train AI models continuing to rise.
WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?
Nvidia was founded in 1993 by a trio of electrical engineers – Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem – who hatched their plan at a Denny's restaurant in California's Bay Area.
Its initial focus was on making 3D graphics available for video games and multimedia. They viewed the gaming market in particular as a favorable opportunity to both generate revenue and tackle challenging computational problems that could propel future growth.
Huang had led Nvidia since its founding, overseeing its transformation from a graphics chipmaker into a dominant supplier of processors powering the artificial intelligence boom.
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[ H/T Fox Business ]
