Jensen Huang, co-founder and until recently the chief executive of Nvidia, resigned after the company’s board accepted his decision. Huang publicly acknowledged extramarital affairs; some of these relationships have raised U.S. national security concerns beyond his personal conduct.
Who is involved and what are the allegations?
U.S. officials say one of Huang’s reported romantic partners is Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based AI infrastructure company. Alice Huang is a Chinese citizen and is not related to Jensen Huang. U.S. authorities have alleged that Alice Huang may be a spy for China who passed information back to Beijing.
Megaspeed reportedly bought about $4.8 billion worth of Nvidia chips over the past two years. Both U.S. and Singaporean authorities previously investigated Megaspeed on suspicions that the company was diverting chips to China, and the Justice Department has taken over the federal investigation, according to reports.
Additional affairs and internal implications
The New York Times reported that Jensen Huang also had an extramarital relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to the CEO. Nvidia, Jensen Huang and Kimberly Powell have not confirmed that report. Reuters later published an additional allegation that Huang had a third affair with another unnamed Nvidia employee.
Timeline — major dates and developments
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November 13, 2026: Reports say Huang appeared shaken and unconvinced about his successor, Colette Kress. Bloomberg described him as “broken and shattered,” and the Wall Street Journal reported Huang had been critical of Kress’s ability to help steer strategy.
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November 12, 2026: Democratic lawmakers announced an investigation into Nvidia’s chip sales to China and requested that Jensen Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testify before the Senate Banking Committee. In a letter, Representative Richard Neal (D-MA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said the Trump administration had been briefed about Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese spy but did not adequately address the security risk. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) also requested that Huang and Lutnick appear before the committee.
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November 12, 2026: Reuters reported an additional alleged affair between Huang and another unnamed Nvidia employee.
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November 12, 2026: Nvidia’s board accepted Huang’s resignation. Colette Kress, the company’s CFO, was named interim CEO while continuing her CFO duties. Harvey C. Jones was appointed the company’s first-ever chair of the board; Jones has served on Nvidia’s board since 1993. Huang agreed to testify to Congress before Thanksgiving (November 26); the briefing is expected to be closed to the public but recorded and transcribed.
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November 11, 2026: After reports of a second affair, Nvidia’s stock fell about 8% in after-hours trading and was down 11% over five days. The Wall Street Journal reported the board was preparing to discuss Huang’s future.
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November 11, 2026: The New York Times reported that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, the company’s vice president of healthcare, including being filmed appearing affectionate at a hotel during a conference earlier in the year.
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November 11, 2026: Republican members of Congress sought a closed-door briefing with Huang about his relationship with a suspected Chinese spy and threatened a subpoena if he did not appear.
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November 9, 2026: Huang withdrew from scheduled speaking engagements, including the ElevenLabs Summit and the Anthropic CEO Forum.
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November 9–10, 2026: Reporting provided more detail on Megaspeed and Alice Huang’s business activities. Alice Huang and her family are said to have built a network of companies in China and Singapore to acquire Nvidia chips, including founding Shanghai Century Litong in 2023, which became a preferred cloud partner and had priority access to chips. Some reports claim Shanghai Century Litong facilitated purchases totaling as much as $7.5 billion in Nvidia chips, including chips subject to export restrictions.
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November 8, 2026: President Donald Trump publicly expressed support for Jensen Huang, calling him a “fine person” and saying he believed Huang should remain CEO.
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November 8, 2026: Huang published a letter to Nvidia employees and a press release admitting he had been unfaithful to his wife and apologizing to his family and to staff. He acknowledged that news reports had raised national security concerns related to his infidelity. Nvidia’s board launched an independent investigation; Huang said he would cooperate.
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November 5, 2026: Three Republican committee chairmen requested a closed-door joint briefing with Huang, citing significant national security concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s access to sensitive U.S. technology.
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October 29, 2026: The New York Times first reported that U.S. officials believed Jensen Huang had developed a close relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, Alice Huang. Nvidia responded that meetings with customers are a normal part of a CEO’s job and said the government would have notified the company if it believed any individual posed a threat.
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Spring 2026: A classified memo circulating inside the Trump administration warned that Alice Huang, who had a relationship with Jensen Huang, was a spy for China’s Ministry of State Security; reports say Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the memo’s drafting.
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Late 2025–early 2026: Reports indicate President Trump was briefed on U.S. surveillance of Alice Huang and her ties to Jensen Huang but did not act. Nvidia’s legal head, Tim Teter, is reported to have intervened in a 2025 U.S. probe into suspected chip smuggling involving Megaspeed.
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October 2025: U.S. and Singapore authorities confirmed investigations into Megaspeed over possible export violations; Megaspeed was suspected of assisting Chinese firms to circumvent U.S. chip export controls.
Why this matters
The dispute matters because control over advanced AI hardware is central to the technological competition between the United States and China. Nvidia makes many of the high-performance chips that accelerate AI development; as an American company, its sales of the most powerful chips are subject to export controls. Allegations that a senior executive had relationships with someone suspected of spying and that a customer purchased large volumes of chips raise questions about compliance, export enforcement and national security.
Current status
- Jensen Huang has resigned; Colette Kress is interim CEO.
- Nvidia’s board has opened an independent investigation.
- Federal investigations into Megaspeed and Alice Huang are ongoing, with the Justice Department involved.
- Congressional briefings and testimony are planned; Huang has agreed to testify before Thanksgiving.
Further developments are likely as congressional inquiries and law-enforcement investigations proceed.
