Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang has resigned as president, CEO and board member, effective immediately, the company announced last night.
Nvidia named Chief Financial Officer Cole Kress as interim CEO and Harvey Jones as its first chairman of the board.
The company said it is launching a search for a permanent CEO and will consider both internal and external candidates.
The move came after a board meeting about Huang's future and amid reports that he had two extramarital affairs, including with a woman accused of being a Chinese spy.
The company's shares have been under pressure for weeks amid reports of extramarital affairs and questions about a possible bubble in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
Shares were down more than 7% before the opening bell at $160.85, and are down 34% from their all-time high set more than a month ago.
Huang has lobbied for years against restrictions on sales of advanced AI chips to China, and U.S. President Donald Trump last year approved exports of Nvidia's H200 chips over bipartisan objections from critics in Beijing.
Beijing has denied the espionage accusations.
Nvidia said it has no reason to believe national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised, but its investigation will review all available information.
The incident broke out after reports emerged that Huang and his wife, Lori Huang, who had been married for more than 40 years, were involved in an extramarital affair. The Nvidia CEO has since admitted to having an extramarital affair, allegedly with Megaspeed senior executive Huang Le (黄乐).
U.S. intelligence agencies allegedly circulated a memo this spring describing Huang Le as an asset of China's Ministry of State Security. She was one of the attendees at a dinner hosted by Jen-Hsun Huang at a Chinese restaurant in Taipei on May 22 last year, which coincided with the Taipei Computer Show.
A Taiwanese minister said yesterday that she would visit Taiwan eight times in 2024 and last year.
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that the Nvidia co-founder was involved in a second extramarital affair, saying video evidence showed him interacting intimately with Nvidia Healthcare Vice President Kimberly Powell.
Bloomberg News previously reported that an outside firm was helping the board identify potential successors.
Huang has repeatedly avoided naming names when asked about his successor.
Nvidia shareholders have filed a class action lawsuit against Jensen Huang and the AI chip maker, accusing it of failing to disclose information about the relationship to investors.
Megaspeed yesterday pledged to cooperate with an investigation into potential U.S. national security risks.
"Megaspeed is committed to working constructively and transparently with the U.S. government," the company said in a statement, adding that it had hired a U.S. law firm to conduct a "comprehensive census" of its computer chips and verify their export controls.
The company faced accusations last year of illegally shipping advanced Nvidia computer chips to China, but said in December there was "no evidence" of such exports.
