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Jensen Huang resigned from his position as CEO of Nvidia on Thursday, effective immediately. His departure comes amid an ongoing investigation into his relationships and a possible Chinese espionage operation targeting him. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress is now serving as interim CEO. Here’s a look back at the key questions surrounding the scandal in six questions.
The Nvidia affair now involves four key issues: the personal conduct of its co-founder, the company’s governance, corporate security, and the technological rivalry between the United States and China. It also rests on information of varying natures: some facts have been acknowledged, others come from anonymous sources cited by the press, and several accusations remain impossible to verify at this time.
Here is what has been established, what has not yet been established, and why this case goes far beyond the individual of Jensen Huang.
1. What do we know about the relationship between Jensen Huang and Alice Huang?
According to the New York Times, Jensen Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman who had a career in finance before moving into the cloud computing sector. The two women, who share the same last name, are not related.
The American newspaper claims that US intelligence services consider Alice Huang to be an agent of Chinese intelligence services tasked with gathering information and facilitating China’s access to Nvidia technologies. The information on which this assessment is based is classified. It is therefore impossible to independently verify this accusation, which Beijing has denied.
Jensen Huang admitted on Sunday to cheating on his wife, in a message published by Nvidia . However, he did not name the woman involved or publicly confirm the New York Times’ version of events. “I have been unfaithful to my wife. My actions have hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I have done,” he wrote.
Before his resignation, Nvidia’s board of directors announced the launch of an independent investigation to determine whether Jensen Huang had been the target of a foreign intelligence operation. At the time, they stated they had no evidence that company secrets or national security information had been compromised. The press release announcing his departure does not specify the outcome of this investigation.
Another case, separate from the espionage suspicions, emerged on Wednesday. The New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also allegedly had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president in charge of health, who reported directly to him.
2. Why is the company Megaspeed at the heart of the case?
Alice Huang was one of the top executives at Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based cloud and data center company that Nvidia presented as one of its official partners.
To trace her career path, Reuters examined more than 30 financial documents, company records, and trade publications. These documents show that Alice Huang became the controlling shareholder of Megaspeed after holding several positions in the Chinese financial sector. However, her exact role following a change in ownership at the end of 2023 remains difficult to ascertain.
Megaspeed was already under scrutiny by US authorities before the revelations about Jensen Huang. Washington is seeking to determine whether the company helped Chinese customers access Nvidia chips subject to US restrictions.
Trade data reviewed by Reuters shows that an Indonesian subsidiary of Megaspeed imported Nvidia hardware, including H100 processors, between 2024 and 2026. However, these shipments to Indonesia do not, in themselves, prove a violation of US rules.
3. Why does Nvidia represent a national security issue?
Nvidia doesn’t just manufacture computer components. Its graphics processors, or GPUs, provide the computing power necessary for the development and operation of artificial intelligence systems.
According to an OECD report, Nvidia holds over 80% of the market for AI-powered GPUs. Its software environment has also become a de facto standard for many developers. This combination makes its technologies particularly difficult to replace.
For Mathieu Duchâtel, this power struggle is therefore not simply a trade conflict. “The major strategic interest in all this is that of technological superiority. China wants to replace Nvidia, “explained the director of international studies at the Institut Montaigne, on Thursday during the program Tout un monde.
This rivalry is already having direct consequences for the American company. In its financial documents, Nvidia indicates that the restrictions imposed by Washington have practically excluded it from the Chinese market for data center processors, leaving more room for its competitors.
4. How can US restrictions be circumvented?
The United States restricts the export of several advanced processors to China. Since January 2026, applications for certain chips, including the Nvidia H200, can be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, provided the buyer meets various security and control requirements.
But controlling the physical destination of the chips is not always enough. A Chinese company may seek to remotely lease computing power from a data center located in a third country, without the processors directly entering China.
According to a Reuters investigation published Thursday , Chinese companies are seeking to reserve more Nvidia computing capacity in foreign data centers, fearing stricter US regulations. Congress is currently considering legislation that would allow for greater control over remote access to restricted technologies.
“Any export control policy has to contend with a huge number of attempts by multiple actors to circumvent it,” emphasizes Mathieu Duchâtel. “It’s clear that it’s a never-ending game. But the important thing, for it to work, is to always maintain the pressure.”
5. Who runs Nvidia after Jensen Huang resigns?
Nvidia announced on Thursday the immediate resignation of Jensen Huang from his positions as president, CEO, and board member. A co-founder of the company, which he had led since 1993, he is leaving after 33 years at its helm.
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has been appointed interim CEO. She will retain her current responsibilities until a permanent successor is appointed. The board of directors has launched a search for internal and external candidates. Harvey C. Jones has also been appointed the first chairman of the board in Nvidia’s history.
This transition ends the uncertainty surrounding the group’s immediate direction, but not that surrounding its longer-term governance. According to Bloomberg Intelligence, Jensen Huang’s departure alone is not expected to alter Nvidia’s earnings forecasts for fiscal years 2027 and 2028. The research firm believes the main unknown now concerns the choice of his permanent successor and the company’s future strategic direction.
6. Does the resignation change anything for Switzerland and Europe?
No direct operational consequences have been announced for Nvidia’s Swiss customers. The company assures that its activities, commitments to its customers, and technological roadmap will continue uninterrupted under the interim leadership of Colette Kress. The situation nevertheless highlights Switzerland’s and Europe’s dependence on a small number of foreign suppliers. The Alps supercomputer at the Swiss National Science Centre in Ticino, for example, relies on 10,752 Nvidia Grace Hopper processors. This infrastructure is used, among other things, for scientific research and the development of artificial intelligence models.
“Europe doesn’t currently have the capacity to manufacture Nvidia GPUs, which are nonetheless essential,” notes Mathieu Duchâtel. According to him, this dependence should encourage European industrial ambition, even if the continent remains far behind American and Asian capabilities.
The issue for Switzerland therefore does not lie in Jensen Huang’s private life itself. It now concerns the consequences of this change in leadership, the choice of Nvidia’s future CEO, but also a possible tightening of US controls or new restrictions on international access to computing power.
