The founder of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, has resigned immediately from his position as CEO and President, as well as stepping down from the Board of Directors. This was announced by the US company shortly before the US stock market opened, and it stated that the current CFO, Colette Kress, will temporarily take over as CEO. Meanwhile, the Board is seeking a permanent successor and will consider both internal and external candidates. Thus, an end to one of the longest and most colorful careers in the IT industry, which seemed unthinkable just days ago.
More than 30 years at the helm of Nvidia
Huang was born in 1963 in Taiwan but moved to the US at the age of nine. After a short stint at AMD in the mid-1980s and subsequently working at LSI Logic Chips until 1993, he became one of the founders of Nvidia in 1993. As CEO, he led the company for more than three decades and made it the most valuable company in the world during the AI boom. This remarkable rise is based on the central role that Nvidia's graphics chips play in the training and deployment of AI. Just a few days ago, a dismissal of Huang seemed unthinkable. He had not prepared a succession plan at Nvidia and was a key strategist. Dozens of executives reported directly to him.
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The downfall began over the weekend when Huang admitted that he had been unfaithful to his wife. His lover is said to be a Chinese agent. Later it was revealed that the woman named Alice Huang had allegedly brought AI accelerators valued at a minimum of 7.5 billion US dollars to China through her employer Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer, including models subject to export restrictions. Initial reactions suggested that Huang could retain his position. However, on Wednesday the New York Times reported that the CEO also had a romantic relationship with Kimberly Powell. She oversees the healthcare business at Nvidia and is directly under his supervision.
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