NEW YORK: Jensen Huang, the embattled CEO of AI hardware powerhouse Nvidia, resigned Thursday amid allegations that the woman he had an affair was a Chinese intelligence asset. The announcement of his resignation came after Nvidia's board met for hours on Wednesday and appointed Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as the acting head of the technology behemoth that powers most of AI majors in the US.
Huang, who has admitted to an affair with a woman who is suspected of being a spy for China, was reported to be involved with another woman working for him, according to several independent news reports.
In what could be a classic honeypot spy trap involving Alice Le Huang (not related to him despite the shared surname), the scandal reaches into the highest levels of technology, business and government.
The upheaval in the company stretches across a vast swathe of the US, from politics and international relations to technology and the stock markets.
The scandal broke as President Donald Trump prepares to go to China for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit next week, where he will meet with President Xi Jinping.
China has denied any intelligence links to Alice Huang. Huang was closely identified with Trump, who loosened the ban on selling high-end chips to China by allowing him to sell a second-level chip to Beijing with a cut for the government.
Huang had lobbied for selling advanced chips to China opposing the US ban to keep China from catching up with it in the AI race.
The scandal exposed a split in Trump's administration with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who tipped off Trump to the spying allegations, and others like Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who wanted to monetise Nvidia's chip supremacy with sales to China.
Trump gave Huang a clean chit on Monday, telling reporters, "I just know Jensen very well. I just think he's a very honourable man".
Huang reportedly told Trump that he was unaware of any possible link between Alice Huang and China's spying machinery. (IANS)