After multiple extramarital affairs were revealed, Nvidia founder Jensen Huang announced his resignation as chief executive officer (CEO) and board member on Thursday (November 12). Within a week after the incident was exposed, global media and social platforms were fully involved, and public opinion is still fermenting.
The focus of discussion quickly shifted from the extramarital affair itself to the rumored cheating partner, the Chinese woman Huang Le. There is still no reliable answer to her identity and background, but "Chinese Spy" has become a new hot word on the Internet.
In China, officials did not set the tone for the incident and did not control public opinion. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs only responded that the so-called "Chinese spies" argument was purely "challenging rumors and slandering". In a rare space for unregulated discussion, Chinese netizens are interested in gossip, conspiracy theories about the U.S. midterm elections, and the narrative of Jen-Hsun Huang as a "political victim."
The reaction of the capital market was equally violent. On the day the news of Jen-Hsun Huang's resignation was announced, Nvidia's intraday drop exceeded 14%, and its market value evaporated by up to approximately US$600 billion. Investors joked that it had encountered a "black swan".
"Distinguish Chinese spies" follow-up content
Huang Jen-Hsun earlier admitted to being unfaithful to his wife and publicly apologized. Due to his long-term image of loving his wife and taking care of his family, public opinion was in an uproar. In the following days, the New York Times and Reuters successively reported that he had a second and third cheating partner, and the Economist even published four articles discussing the impact of his resignation and possible successors.
Who is Huang Le? Which passport does she hold? Did she approach Huang with a mission? There are no answers to these questions, and no official agency has responded. In the huge information void, netizens took over public opinion.
From the Chinese Internet to Instagram, Threads, and TikTok, the discussion ultimately boils down to one question: What is a "Chinese spy"? Some people summarized Huang Le's characteristics based on her image and compared her with Wendi Deng, the ex-wife of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, and Priscilla Chan, the wife of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. They called on industry giants to "beware of China" and reminded technology companies to "beware" of these so-called "Chinese spies."
Online creators quickly caught up with the trend: fashion bloggers taught their wives to "dress like a Chinese spy," beauty bloggers demonstrated "Chinese spy makeup," emotional bloggers wrote, "She doesn't like you, she's just a Chinese spy," and podcast hosts taught viewers on a whiteboard how to infer whether a girlfriend is related to the Chinese government based on her interests.
These contents, whether joking or serious, often receive millions of likes, forming a real wave of public opinion: How to identify a "Chinese spy"?
Joke or discrimination? Chinese uneasiness and backlash
It is worthy of further study that the English "Chinese" does not only refer to Chinese citizens, but covers the entire Chinese community. Many people began to ask: Isn't this kind of discussion racial discrimination and sexism?
Some Chinese users pointed out that Asians have contributed a lot to the technology industry, but in the end they are "hunted". Even on a platform like Douyin, where public opinion is controlled, some users wrote in an almost "accepting" tone: How could a technology giant allow a Chinese-American to be the top leader for a long time.
A user on Threads expressed disappointment: Instead of condemning the male CEOs of technology giants, people took this opportunity to continue to mock Asian women in the technology field. "This is so sad." Someone else asked: "Huang Renxun has resigned since he cheated, but what about the people on Epstein's list?"
Amid this push and pull, rebellious statements such as "I feel uncomfortable being called a 'Chinese Spy'" are becoming a new center of discussion.
Beijing does not set restrictions, and netizens "just watch the fun"
Chinese officials have yet to characterize the incident. The official media only followed foreign media information sources to make factual reports: Huang Renxun admitted to cheating, announced his resignation, and sorted out the timeline of the incident to facilitate readers' understanding.
In terms of external stance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the so-called "Chinese spy" argument was "purely based on rumors and slander." Asked whether Huang Le was a Chinese citizen and currently in Beijing, spokesman Mao Ning responded on Thursday: "I am not aware of the situation you mentioned."
In addition, China did not conduct any public opinion control on the incident: no official media set the tone, no traffic restrictions, no guidance of comments, and even no sensitive words.
For Chinese netizens, this is a rare space for uncontrolled discussion: the incident is not politically sensitive, and speculation about Huang Le's identity is close to "gossip entertainment." Some people who called themselves "Huang Le's classmates" and "Huang Le's former colleagues" began to post articles, recalling their impressions of Huang Le, and often ended up with "I didn't expect him to be so successful now."
The discussion quickly extended from the infidelity itself to American politics. Since the incident followed the Republican Party led by Donald Trump's heavy defeat in the midterm elections, many people suspected that the timing was "too good": How could the top management not know about such a big event? Will Jen-Hsun Huang be a victim of American politics?
This type of inference has become mainstream on Douyin and Weibo. One comment on Douyin that received more than 3,000 likes said: "For a man to admit that he cheated, it means that cheating is the smallest problem for him." Many people regret that Huang Renxun spent half his life building Nvidia into a giant, but in the end he was eliminated for this reason.
The stock price fell by nearly 20% in eight days: a "black swan" for investors
Before the incident came to light, Nvidia’s stock price was still relatively high. As the scandal unfolded, the stock price fell from US$202.06 on November 2 to closing at US$166.19 on November 12, a cumulative drop of US$35.87 in eight trading days, a decrease of 17.75%.
